Principles of Marketing, 12th Edition

Citation preview

Principles of

e

The goal of every marketer is to create more value for customers. So it makes sense that our goal for the twelfth 1 edition of Kotler/Armstrong Principles of Marketing is to create more value for you-more value in the content, more value in the support package, more value in learning, and more value in

: a

a

Just download chapter reviews from your text and listen to them on any mp3 player. Now wherever you are-whatever you're doing--you can study by listening to the following for each chapter of your textbook:

: Your "need to know" for each chapter - -

: A g ~check t Is you if you

need to keep studying

3

I

: Audio "flashcards" to help you review key concepts and terms

ue, integrative, a "The authors do a superb job of covering customer value. It is a conspicuous cornerstone of the book. The concept is well integrated into each chapter." "The [text's] establishment of a framework for marketing, with customer value and satisfaction at its core, is very good-students can really relate to it. " "[The customer value framework] is effective because it emphasizes the core of the marketing concept in focusing on the customer. Other texts lack in addressing issues of customer relationships, customer lifetime value, and measuring return on marketing. " "I think that Kotler and Armstrong really have a tiger by the tail in emphasizing customer value and relationships as their dominant theme. "

"Excellent and thorough coverage of a vast topic. Easy to read with lots of good examples. Topical and up-to-date. "

"Serious and well-written; much deeper and more comprehensive than other books.

"

"It is comprehensive, integrates global and ethics issues, and offers excellent examples that are both current and relevant. " "Kotler and Armstrong have stayed con temporary with everything going on in the field. "

An interesting, releva "Kotler and Armstrong is current and straightforward, with lots of practical applications.

"

"Kotler and Armstrong is quite refreshing-it draws the reader into the fascinating areas of marketing via use of real-life examples right off the bat. " "I love the diversity of the products and companies chosen for the company examples and cases, examples that all ages can relate to that are of interest to young professionals. "

"Well-covered basics; integrated, intriguing examples; vivid color splashed all over the place

"I was very impressed with the quality and relevance of the videos. " "I'm starting to use the videos a lot and I like them, and the students like them too. I use the supplemental Web site also.. .. "

"I have aggressively sought to utilize various assessment tools in m y curriculum and have been v e ~ pleased y with the Kotler/Armstrong support and value-added materials. Ifind the students offen list them as "most helpful" in course evaluations. "

"The strengths of Kotler and Armstrong are that the focus is on the customer-which is very important-and that they define marketing in an understandable manner. I am impressed." "Kotler and Armstrong are superior in their coverage of this material. I feel m y students would be better ofjC with Kotler and Armstrong's text." "Kotler and Armstrong have the best text on the market."

North western University University of North Carolina

Pearson Education International

VP/Editorial Director: Jeff Shelstad Editor in Chief: David Parker Product Development Manager: Ashley Santora Project Manager: Melissa Pellerano Editoqal Assistant: Christine Ietto Development Editor: Keri Miksza Assistant Editor, Media: Ashley Lulling Marketing Manager: Anne Howard Marketing Assistant: Laura Cirigliano Associate Director, Production Editorial: Judy Leale Managing Editor: Renata Butera Production Editor: Angela Pica Permissions Coordinator: Charles Morris Associate Director, Manufacturing: Vinnie Scelta Manufacturing Buyer: Diane Peirano Manager, Creative Services: Christy Mahon Interior Design: Christy Mahon Cover Design: Christy Mahon Director, h a g e Resource Center: Melinda Patelli Manager, Rights and Permissions: Zina Arabia Manager, Visual Research: Beth Brenzel Manager, Cover Visual Research & Permissions: Karen Sanatar Image Permission Coordinator: Robert Farrell Photo Researcher: Sheila Norman Illustrations: Carlisle Publishing Services Composition: Carlisle Publishing Services Full-Service Project Management: Carlisle Publishing Services/Lynn Steines PrintedBinder: R. R. Donnelley-Willard Typeface: 9/11 Melior Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on page C-1.

If you purchased this book within the United States or Canada you should be aware that it has been wrongfully imported without the approval of the Publisher or the Author. Copyright O 2008,2006,2004,2001, and 1999 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 07458. Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s),write to: Rights and Permissions Department. Pearson Prentice HallTM is a trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. Pearson@i s a registered trademark of Pearson plc Prentice Hall@is a registered trademark of Pearson Education, Inc. Pearson Education Ltd., London. Pearson Education Singapore,Pte. Ltd Pearson Education, Canada, Ltd Pearson Education-Japan

Pearson Education Australia PTY, Limited , Pearson Education North Asia Ltd Pearson Educacicin de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. Pearson Education Malaysia, Pte. Ltd. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

10987654321

ISBN: 0-13-712827-4

As a team, Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong provide a blend of skills uniquely suited to writing an introductory marketing text. Professor Kotler is one of the world's leading authorities on marketing. Professor Armstrong is an award-winning teacher of undergraduate business students. Together they make the complex world of marketing practical, approachable, and enjoyable. is the S. C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. He received his master's degree at the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. at M.I.T., both in economics. Dr. Kotler is the author of Marketing Management (Prentice Hall), now in its twelfth edition and the world's most widely used marketing textbook in graduate schools of business worldwide. He has authored dozens of other successful books and has written more than 100 articles in leading journals. He is the only three-time winner of the coveted Alpha Kappa Psi award for the best annual article in the Journal of Marketing. Professor Kotler was named the first recipient of two major awards: the Distinguished Marketing Educator of the Year Award given by the American Marketing Association and the Philip Kotler Award for Excellence i n Health Care Marketing presented by the Academy for Health Care Services Marketing. His numerous other major honors include the Sales and Marketing Executives International Marketing Educator of the Year Award; The European Association of Marketing Consultants and Trainers Marketing Excellence Award; the Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award; and the Paul D. Converse Award, given by the American Marketing Association to honor "outstanding contributions to science in marketing." In a recent Financial Times poll of 1,000 senior executives across the world, Professor Kotler was ranked as the fourth "most influential business writerlguru" of the twenty-first century. Dr. Kotler has served as chairman of the College of Marketing of the Institute of Management Sciences, a director of the American Marketing Association, and a trustee of the Marketing Science Institute. He has consulted with many major US. and international companies in the areas of marketing strategy and planning, marketing organization, and international marketing. He has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and South America, advising companies and governments about global marketing practices and opportunities. is the Crist W. Blackwell Distinguished Professor of Undergraduate Education in the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds undergraduate and master's degrees in business from Wayne State University in Detroit, and he received his Ph.D. in marketing from Northwestern University. Dr. Armstrong has contributed numerous articles to leading business journals. As a consultant and researcher, he has worked with many companies on marketing research, sales management, and marketing strategy. But Professor Armstrong's first love is teaching. His Blackwell Distinguished Professorship is the only permanent endowed professorship for distinguished undergraduate teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has been very active in the teaching and administration of Kenan-Flagler's undergraduate program. His administrative posts have included Chair of Marketing, Associate Director of the Undergraduate Business Program, Director of the Business Honors Program, and many others. He works closely with business student groups and has received several campuswide and Business School teaching awards. He is the only repeat recipient of school's highly regarded Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which he has received three times. Professor Armstrong recently received the UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest teaching honor bestowed by the sixteen-campus University of North Carolina system.

Preface xxi

2 Company and Marketing Strategy: Partnering t o Build Customer Relationships 34

4

Managing Marketing Information 94

5 Consumer Markets and Consumer Buyer Behavior 128 6

Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior 158

-

g 8 3 ; e2

&sianina - ~ ~ + ~ ; > 5.&&egy -". a C ~ s t ~ ~ , : m e ~ - &piark&ng aiad 19r,&asated Mai.ke-Ling 282 ":

-

9 New-Product Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies 250 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value 282 11 Pricing Products: Pricing Strategies 306

12 Marketing Channels and Supply Chain Management 332 13 Retailing and Wholesaling 364 14 Communicating Customer Value: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy 396 15 Advertising and Public Relations 424 16 Personal Selling and Sales Promotion 450 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships 478

Pal;%4

Et:tej3;;d$3a$&$r$ic'{-ng 52.4.

18 Creating Competitive Advantage 514 19 The Global Marketplace 540 20 - Marketing Ethics and Social Responsibility 570 Appendix 1 Marketing Plan A-1 Appendix 2 Marketing by the Numbers A-11 Appendix 3 Careers i n Marketing A-27 References R-1 Glossary G - 1 Credits C - 1 Index 1-1

1

Planning Marketing: Partnering to Build Customer Relationships 44

Preface xxi Part l % Defining f4a;keB.F:ngar:d the Ihrlteeing Pra~ess2

rmmag

Marketing: Managing Profitable Customer Relationships 2 What Is Marketing? 4 Marketing Defined 5 1 The Marketing Process 5

Understanding the Marketplace and Customer Meeds 6 Customer Needs, Wants, and Demands 6 $t Market Offerings-Products, Services, and Experiences 6 C Customer Value and Satisfaction 7 1 Exchanges and Relationships 7 B Markets 7

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy 8 Selecting Customers to Serve 8 1 Choosing a Value Proposition 9 1 Marketing Management Orientations 9

Partnering with Other Company Departments 45 1 Partnering with Others @ the Marketing System 46

Marketing Strategy and the Marketing Mix 47 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy 48 1 Developing an Integrated Marketing Mix 50

Managing the Marketing Effort 52 Marketing Analysis 52 B Marketing Planning 52 1 Marketing Implementation 53 1 Marketing Department Organization 54 81 Marketing Control 55

Measuring and Managing Return on Markeang Investment 56 Reviewing the Concepts 57 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 58 1 Discussing the Concepts 59 1 Applying the Concepts 59 B Focus on Technology 59 1 Focus on Ethics 59

Wdeo case: Harley-Davidson 60

any Case: Pap-Ease America: The Big Cheese of Mousetraps 60

Preparing an Integrated Marketing Plan and Program 12 Building Customer Relationships 12 Customer Relationship Management 13 5 The Changing Nature of Customer Relationships 16 1 Partner Relationship Management 18

Capturing Value from Customers 19 Creating Customer Loyalty and Retention 20 1 Growing Share of Customer 20 B Building Customer Equity 21

The Mew Marketing Landscape 23 The New Digital Age 23 i Rapid Globalization 25 3 The Call for More Ethics and Social Responsibility 26 % The Growth of Not-for-Profit Marketing 27

So, What Is Marketing? Pulling It A11 Together 28 Reviewing the Concepts 29 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 30 B Discussing the Concepts 30 I Applying the Concepts 3 1 B Focus on Technology 31 1 Focus on Ethics 31

@dE% Case: Dunkin' Donuts 31 pany case: Build-A-Bear: Build-A-Memory 32 rM-.a

$

--.,

,.~44~C^C-

The Marketing Environment 62 The Company's Microenvironment 64 The Company 65 1 Suppliers 65 1 Marketing Intermediaries 65 Customers 66 1 Competitors 66 B Publics 67

The Company's Macroenvironment 67 Demographic Environment 68 1 Economic Environment 77 1 Natural Environment 79 1 Technological Environment 80 P Political Environment 82 1 Cultural Environment 86

Responding to the Marketing Environment 89 Reviewing the Concepts 90 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 90 El Discussing the Concepts 90 E Applying the Concepts 91 H Focus on Technology 91 C Focus on Ethics 9 1

Video Case: American Express 91 any Case: Prius: Leading a Wave of Hybrids

92

3

Wr,

Company and Marketing Strategy: Partnering to Build Customer Relationships 34 Companywide Strategic Planning: Defining Marketing's Role 36 Defining a Market-Oriented Mission 37 2 Setting Company Objectives and Goals 38 1 Designing the Business Portfolio 39

Managing Marketing Information 94 Assessing Marketing Information Needs 97 Developing Marketing Information 98 Internal Data 98 El Marketing Intelligence 99

,

Marketing Research 100 Defining the Problem and Research Objectives 101 1 Developing the Research Plan 101 1 Gathering

xiv

Contents

Institutional and Government Markets 174

Secondary Data 102 1 Primary Data Collection 103 1 Implementing the Research Plan 110 Et Interpreting and Reporting the Findings 111

Institutional Markets 174 1 Government Markets 174 EJ Reviewing the Concepts 176 J! keviewing the Key Terms 177 4 Discussing the Concepts 177 Ba Applying the Concepts 177 B Focus on Technology 177 fJ Focus on Ethics 178

Analyzing Marketing Information I 11 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 112

Distributing and Using Marketing Information 113 Other Marketing Information Considerations 113

Video case: Eaton 178 Company Case: Kodak: changing the Picture 1.78

Marketing Research in Small Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations 114 1 International Marketing Research 117 bl Public Policy and Ethics in Marketing Research 118 1 Reviewing the Concepts 122 B Reviewing the Key Terms 123 fJ Discussing the Concepts 123 B Applying the Concepts 123 1 Focus on Technology 123 %1 Focus on Ethics 124 Wdeo Case::Burke 124

Part 3 B De&rjisg a &usPomes-Driven Pkxke'tjng Yirategy and Integrated Marketifig - M i j [ 182 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers 182 Market Segmentation 185

C0mpany Case: Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Measuring Service Quality 124

Segmenting Consumer Markets 185 1 Segmenting Business Markets 192 1 Segmenting - International Markets 193 0 Requirements for Effective Segmentation 194

Consumer Markets and Consumer Buyer Behavior 128 Model of Consumer Behavior 130 Characteristics affecting Consumer Behavior 131 Cultural Factors 131 1 Social Factors 134 Factors 139 E Psychological Factors 142

%f

Market Targeting 195 Evaluating Market Segments 195 1 Selecting Target Market Segments 195 1 Socially Responsible Target Marketing 202

Personal

a5lpes of Buying Decision Behavior 145

Differentiation and Positioning 203 Positioning Maps 203 B Choosing a Differentiation

Complex Buying Behavior 145 1 Dissonance-Reducing Buying Behavior 146 1 Habitual Buying Behavior 146 1 Variety-SeekingBuying Behavior 147

and Positioning Strategy 203 1 Communicating and Delivering the Chosen Position 210 1 Reviewing the Concepts 211 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 211 1 Discussing the Concepts 212 1 Applying the Concepts 212 1 Focus on Technology 2 12 1 Focus on Ethics 212

The Buyer Decision Process 147 Need Recognition 147 I Information Search 147 5 Evaluation of Alternatives 148 1 Purchase Decision 148 1 Postpurchase Behavior 149

The Buyer Decision Process for Mew Products 150

\d%eo Case: Procter & Gamble 213

Stages in the Adoption Process 150 1 Individual Differences in Innovativeness 151 1 Influence of Product Characteristics on Rate of Adoption 152

Company Case: Saturn: An Image Makeover 213

Consumer Behavior Across International Borders 153 Reviewing the Concepts 153 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 154 1 Discussing the Concepts 154 1 Applying the Concepts 154 1 Focus on 'Ethnology 155 1 Focus onEthics 155 Video Case: Wild Planet 155

c~mpanyCase: Victoria's Secret Pink: Keeping the Brand Hot 156

E T 9 >"";" Business Markets and Business Buyer

~ e x g

Behavior 158 Business Markets 160 Market Structure and Demand 161 1 Nature of the Buying Unit 162 Ea Types of Decisions and the Decision Process 162 . Business

Buyer Behavior 162

Major Types of Buying Situations 163 1 Participants in the Business Buying Process 166 fl( Major Influences on Business Buyers 167 B The Business Buying Process 169 1 E-Procurement:Buying on the Internet 172

Product, Services, Strategy 216 What Is a Product? 218 ,

and Branding

Products, Services, and Experiences 218 1 Levels of Product and Services 2 19 tii Product and Service Classifications 220

Product and Service Decisions 223 Individual Product and Service Decisions 223 1 Product Line Decisions 228 t3 Product Mix Decisions 229

Branding Strategy: Building Strong Brands 230 Brand Equity 230 1 Building Strong Brands 231 %1 Managing Brands 238 1

Services Marketing 239 Nature and Characteristics of a Service 239 B Marketing Strategies for Service 240 1 Reviewing the Concepts 245 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 246 1 Discussing the Concepts 246 $ Applying the Concepts 246 8 Focus on Technology 247 9 Focus on Ethics 247 Video faset Accenture 247 C~tllpallyCase: Converse: We Love You, Chucks! 248

Contents

Brice Changes 320 New-Product Development Strategy 253 The New-Product Development Process 254 Idea Generation 254 63 Idea Screening 256 Development and Testing 257 P Marketing Development 258 1 Business Analysis 259 1 Product Development 259 1 Test Marketing 260 5 Commercialirzration 262

Initiating Price Changes 320 Changes 322

gi

Responding to Price

Public Policy and Pricing 323 Pricing Within Channel Levels 324 1 Pricing Across Channel Levels 324 B Reviewing the Concepts 327 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 327 fa Discussing the Concepts 328 D Applying the Concepts 328 1 Focus on Technology 328 1 Focus on Ethics 328 1

Video Case: GE 329 Company Case: ExxonMobil: Achieving Big Profits During Hard Times 329

New-Product Development 264

Product Life-Cycle Strategies 267 Introduction Stage 269 5 Growth Stage 270 1 Maturity Stage 270 1 Decline Stage 271

Additional Product and Service Considerations 274 Product Decisions and Social Responsibility 274 1 International Product and Services Marketing 275 1

eting Channels and Supply C anagement 332 Supply Chains and the Value Delivery I Network 334 The Nature and Importance of Marketing Channels 335 How Channel Members Add Value 336 kl Number of Channel Levels 338

Channel Behavior and Organization 338 Ethics 278

Video Case: eGO Bikes 278

any Case: Sony: Betting It All on Blu-Ray 278

Channel Behavior 339 1 Vertical Marketing Systems 340 1 Horizontal Marketing Systems 343 1 Multichannel Distribution Systems 343 1 Changing Channel Organization 344

Channel Design Decisions 346

and Capturing Customer Value 282 What Is a Price? 284 Factors to Consider When Setting Prices 285 Value-Based Pricing 285 1 Company and Product Costs 288 1 Other Internal and External Considerations Affecting Price Decisions 293 1 Reviewing the Concepts 300 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 300 1 Discussing the Concepts 301 1 Applying the Concepts 301 ffi Focus on Technology 301 1 Focus on Ethics 301

Vides Case:: Song 302

y Case: Southwest Airlines: Waging War in Philly 302

Strategies 306 New-Product Pricing Strategies 308

Analyzing Consumer Needs 347 1 Setting Channel Objectives 347 1 Identifying Major Alternatives 348 B Evaluating the Major Alternatives 349 1 Designing International Distribution Channels 349 Channel Management Decisions 350 Selecting Channel Members 350 5 Managing and Motivating Channel Members 350 El Evaluating Channel Members 351

Public Policy and Distribution Decisions 351 Marketing Logistics and S8pply Chain Management 352 Nature and Importance of Marketing Logistics 352 !I Goals of the Logistics System 353 e3 Major Logistics Functions 354 D Integrated Logistics Management 356 C Reviewing the Concepts 358 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 359 1 Discussing the Concepts 359 1 Applying the Concepts 359 1 Focus on Technology 360 P Focus on Ethics 360 1

%de0 Case: Hasbro 360 any Case: Zara: The Technology Giant of the Fashion World 361

Market-Skimming Pricing 308 Ed Market-Penetration Pricing 309

etailing and Wholesaling 364

Product M i x Pricing Strategies 309 Product Line Pricing 309 1 Optional-Product Pricing 310 1 Captive-Product Pricing 310 1 By-product Pricing 3 11 1 Product Bundle Pricing 312

Price-Adjustment Strategies 312 Discount and Allowance Pricing 312 1 Segmented Pricing 312 1 Psychological Pricing 314 1 Promotional Pricing 316 0 Geographical Pricing 317 1 Dynamic Pricing 318 P International Pricing 320

Retailing 367 Types of Retailers 367 &! Retailer Marketing Decisions 374 1 The Future of Retailing 381

Wholesaling 385 Types of Wholesalers 386 D Wholesaler Marketing Decisions 388 1 Trends in Wholesaling 389 1 Beviewing the Concepts 390 8 Reviewing the Key Term 391 Discussing the Concepts 391 Fi Applying the

'

xvi

Contents

Concepts 391 P Focus on Technology 391 5 Focus on Ethics 392

Video Case: Wellbeing 392 C0mpany Case: Peapod: Thriving in the World of Online

Managing the Sales Force 454 Designing Sales Force Strategy and Structure 454 ~f Recruiting and Selecting Salespeople 459 P =ug Salespeople 460 Bi Compensating Salespeople 461

Supervising and Motivating Salespeople 462

Groceries 392

Evaluating Salespeople and Sales-Force Performance 464

The Personal Selling Process 466

Communicating Customer Value: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy -- 396 The Promotion Mix 398 Integrated Marketing Communications 399 The New Marketing Communications Landscape 399 81 The Shifting Marketing Communications Model 399 The Need for Integrated Marketing Communications 4

A View of the CommunicationProcess 402 Steps in Developing Effective Communication 404 Identifying the Target Audience 404 D Determining the Communication Objectives 404 gl Designing a Message 405 88 Choosing Media 407 El Selecting the Message Source 409 B Collecting Feedback 411

Sales Promotion 468 Rapid Growth of Sales Promotion 469 1 Sales Promotion Objectives 469 Il Major Sales Promotion Tools 470 1 Developing the Sales Promotion Program 473 8 Reviewing the Concepts 473 1 Reviewing the Key B r m s 474 1 Discussing the Concepts 474 gl ~ p p l y i n g Focus on Technology 475 !I FOCUS on Ethics 475

Video Case: Nudie 475

Company Case: Personal Selling at the L e a Corporation 476

Setting the Total Promotion Budget and Mix 412 Setting the Total Promotion Budget 412 B Shaping the Overall Promotion Mix 413 1 Integrating the Promotion Mix 417

Socially Responsible Marketing Communication 4 18

Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships 478 The New Direct-Marketing Model 480 Growth and Benefits of Direct Marketing 48 1 Benefits to Buyers 482

Advertising and Sales Promotion 418 1 Personal Selling 419 B1 Reviewing the Concepts 419 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 420 1 Discussing the Concepts 420 3! Applying the Concepts 420 1 Focus on Technology 420 Focus on Ethics 420

Video Case: Motorola 421 Company Case: Burger King: Promoting a ~ o o Fight d

421

Advertising and Public Relations 424 Advertising 426 Setting Advertising Objectives 426 B Setting the Advertising Budget 428 1 Developing Advertising Strategy 428 B Evaluating Advertising Effectiveness and Return on Advertising Investment 438 B Other Advertising Considerations 439

Public Relations 441 The Role and Impact of Public Relations 441 1 Major Public Relations Tbols 442 1 Reviewing the Concepts 445 &1 Reviewing the Key Terms 445 1 Discussing the Concepts 445 81 Applying the Concepts 446 19 Focus on Technology 446 1 Focus on Ethics 446

Video Case: DDB Worldwide 446 Company Case: Pepsi: Promoting Nothing

Steps in the Selling Process 466 1 Personal Selling and Customer Relationship Management 468

fJ

Benefits to Sellers 482

Customer Databases and Direct Marketing 483 Forms of Direct Marketing 484 ~irect-MailMarketing 484 1 Catalog Marketing 485 1 Telephone Marketing 487B Direct-Response Television Marketing 488 1 Kiosk Marketing 491 1 New Digital Direct Marketing Technologies 491

Online Marketing 493 Marketing and the Internet 493 1 Online Marketing Domains 494 1 Types of Online Marketers 496 Zj Setting u p a n Online Marketing Presence 498 Challenges of Online Marketing 504

Integrated Direct Marketing 505 Public Policy Issues in Direct Marketing 506 Irritation, Unfairness, Deception, and Fraud 506 1 Invasion of Privacy 507 1 A Need for Action 508 1 Reviewing the Concepts 509 8 Reviewing the Key Terms 510 BI Discussing the Concepts 510 Concepts 510 I1 Focus on Technology 510 1 FOCUS on Ethics 51 1 Video Case: NineMsN 511

Company Case: StubHub: Ticket Scalping Becomes Respectable 511

447

Personal Selling and Sales Promotion 450 Personal Selling 452 The Nature of Personal Selling 452 1 The Role of the Sales Force 453

Creating Competitive Advantage 514 Competitor Analysis 5 16 Identifying Competitors 5I7 Q Assessing Competitors 518 B Selecting Competitors to Attack and Avoid 520 &1 Designing a Competitive Intelligence System 522

Contents

Competitive Strategies 522 Approaches to Marketing Strategy 522 Strategies 523 1 Competitive Positions 527 1 Market 527 1 Market Challenger Market Follower Strategies 531 1 Market Nicher Strategies 531

Balancing Customer and Competitor Orientations 535 Reviewing the Concepts 534 iii Reviewing the Key Terms 535 1 Discussing the Concepts 535 1 Applying the Concepts 535 B Focus on Technology 535 1 Focus on Ethics 536

Video Case: Nike 536 Company Case: Bose: Competing by Being Truly Different 536

\

xvii

the Concepts 564 1 Focus on Technology 564 5 Focus on Ethics 565

Video Case: Nivea 565 C~mpanyCase: Wal-Mart Takes On the World 565

Marketing Ethics and Social esponsibility 568 Social Criticisms of Marketing 571 Marketing's Impact on Individual Consumers 571 1 Marketing's Impact on Society as a Whole 577 0 Marketing's Impact on Other Businesses 580

Citizen and Public Actions to Regulate Marketing 581 Consumerism 581 1 Environmentalism 582 1 Public Actions to Regulate Marketing 585

Business Actions toward Socially Responsible Marketing 586 Global Marketing Today 542 Looking at the Global Marketing Environment 644 The International Trade System 544 lii Economic Environment 546 1 Political-Legal Environment 548 1 Cultural Environment 548

Deciding Vlhether to Go Global 551 Deciding Which Markets to Enter 552 Deciding How to Enter the Market 552 Exporting 552 El Joint Venturing 553 1 Direct Investment 555

Deciding on the Global Marketing Program 555 Product 556 1 Promotion 559 1 Price 561 1 Distribution Channels 562

Deciding on the Global Masketing Organization 563 Reviewing the Concepts 563 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 564 1 Discussing the Concepts 564 1 Applying

Enlightened Marketing 586 B Marketing Ethics 591 1 Reviewing the Concepts 595 1 Reviewing the Key Terms 596 1 Discussing the Concepts 596 1 Applying the Concepts 596 1 Focus on Technology 596 1 Focus on Ethics 596

Video Case: NFL 597 Company Case: Vitango: Fighting Malnutrition 597

Appendix 1: Marketing Plan A-1 Appendix 2: Marketing by the Numbers A-11 Appendix 3: Careers in Marketing A-27 References R- 1 Glossary G-1 Credits C-1 Index 1-1

1

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Principles of Marketing! With each new edition, we work to bring you the freshest and most authoritative insights into the fascinating world of marketing. As we present this new edition, we want to again thank you and the millions of other marketing students and professors who have used our text over the years. You've been our inspiration. With your help, this book remains a market leader and international best seller. Thank you. The goal of every marketer is to create more value for customers. So it makes sense that our goal for the twelfth edition is to create more value for you-our customer. How does this text bring you more value? First, it builds on a unique, integrative, and intuitive marketing framework: Simply put, marketing is the art and science of creating value for customers in order to capture value from customers in return. Marketers lead the way in developing and managing profitable, value-based customer relationships. We introduce this customer-value framework in the first two chapters and then build upon it throughout the book. Beyond the strengthened customer-relationships framework, we emphasize four additional customer-value themes. First, we expand our emphasis on building strong brands and .brand value. After all, customer value and profitable customer relationships are built upon strong brands. Second, we focus on the importance of measuring and managing return on marketing-of capturing value in return for the customer value that the company creates. Third, we present all of the latest developments in the marketing technologies that are rapidly changing how marketers create and communicate customer value. Finally, we emphasize the importance of socially responsible marketing around the globe. As the world becomes an increasingly smaller place, marketers must be good at marketing their brands globally and in socially responsible ways that create long-term value to society as a whole. In addition to providing all the latest marketing thinking, to add even more value, we've worked to make learning about and teaching marketing easier and more exciting for both students and instructors. The twelfth edition presents marketing in a complete yet practical, exciting, and easy-to-digest way. For example, to help bring marketing to life, we've filled the text with interesting examples and stories about real companies and their marketing practices. Moreover, the integrated, cutting-edge teaching and learning package lets you customize your learning and teaching experience. We highlight the twelfth edition's many new features and enhancements in the pages that follow. So, the twelfth edition creates more value for you-more value in the content, more value in the supplements, more value in learning, and more value in YOUR classroom. We think that it's the best edition yet. We hope that you'll find Principles of Marketing the very best text from which to learn about and teach marketing. Sincerely,

Gary Armstrong University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Philip Kotler North western University

The goal of Principles of Marketing, twelfth edition, is to introduce new marketing students to the fascinating world of modern marketing in an innovative yet practical and enjoyable way. Like any good marketer, we're out to create more value for you, our customer. We've poured over every page, table, figure, fact, and example in an effort to make this the best text from which to learn about and teach marketing. Today's marketing is all about creating customer value and building profitable customer relationships. It starts with understanding consumer needs and wants, deciding which target markets the organization can serve best, and developing a compelling value proposition by which the organization can win, keep, and grow targeted consumers. If an organization does these things well, it will reap the rewards in terms of market share, profits, and customer equity. Marketing is much more than just an isolated business function-it is a philosophy that guides the entire organization. The marketing department cannot create customer value and build profitable customer relationships by itself. This is a companywide undertaking that involves broad decisions about who the company wants as its customers, which needs to satisfy, what products and services to offer, what prices to set, what communications to send, and what partnerships to develop. Marketing must work closely with other company departments and with other organizations throughout its entire value-delivery system to delight customers by creating superior customer value. ,--.

-?

a --I

From beginning to end, Principles of Marketing develops an innovative customer-value and customer-relationships framework that captures the essence of today's marketing.

Five &IajosValue Themes The twelfth edition builds on five major value themes: rar Creating value for customers in order to capture value from customers in return. "G Marketing: Creating and Capturing Customer Value Create ~ t u forcustomem e and

FIGURE 1.6

An expandedmodel of lhe marketing process

I

Capture value fmm

Today's marketers must be good at creating customer value and managing customer relationships. They must attract targeted customers with strong value propositions. Then, they must keep and grow customers by delivering superior customer value and effectively managing the company-customer interface. Today's outstanding marketing companies understand the marketplace and customer needs, design value-creating marketing strategies, develop integrated marketing programs that deliver customer value and delight, and build strong customer relationships. In return, they capture value from customers in the form of sales, profits, and customer loyalty.

Preface

This innovative customer-valueframework is introduced at the start of Chapter 1 in a five-stepmarketing process model, which details how marketing creates customer value and captures value in return. The framework is carefully explained in the first two chapters, pro- viding students with a solid foundation. The framework is then integrated throughout the remainder of the text. ta Building and managing strong, value-creating brands. Well-positioned brands with

strong brand equity provide the basis upon which to build customer value and profitable customer relationships. Today's marketers must position their brands powerfully and manage them well. Managing return on marketing to recapture value. In order to capture value from customers in return, marketing managers must be good at measuring and managing the return on their marketing investments. They must ensure that their marketing dollars are being well spent. In the past, many marketers spent freely on big, expensive marketing programs, often Measuring and anaging Re%urn I, without thinking carefully about the finanarketing Investment cia1 and customer response returns on their ! spending. But all that is changing rapidly. Measuring and managing return on marketing investments has become an important part of strategic marketing decision making. ~i

.,-.-?,

--@

FIGURE 2.8 Return on marketing Source: Adapted from Roland T. Rust, Katherine N. Lemon, and Valerie A. Zeithamal, "Return on Marketing: Using Consumer Equity to Focus Marketing Strategy,"Journalof Markehng, January 2034, p. 112.

1

Harnessing new marketing technologies. New digital and other high-tech marketing developments are dramatically changing how marketers create and communication customer value. Today's marketers must know how to leverage new computer, information, communication, and distribution technologies to connect more effectively with customers and marketing partners in this digital age. Marketing in a socially responsible way around the globe. As technological developments make the world an increasingly smaller place, marketers must be good at marketing their brands globally and in socially responsible ways that create not just short-term value for individual customers but also long-term value for society as a whole. iaa

Important

itions

We've thoroughly revised the twelfth edition of Principles of Marketing to reflect the major trends and forces impacting marketing in this era of customer value and relationships. Here are just some of the major changes you'll find in this edition. srt

This new edition builds on and extends the innovative customer-valueframework from previous editions. No other marketing text presents such a clear and comprehensive customervalue approach. The integrated marketing communications chapters have been completely restructured to reflect sweeping shifts in how today's marketers communicate value to customers. EZI A newly revised Chapter 14-Communicating Customer Value-addresses today's shifting integrated marketing communications model. It tells how marketers are now adding a host new-age media---everything from interactive TV and the Internet to S o d s and cell phones to reach targeted customers with more personalized messages. Advertising and public relations are now combined in Chapter 15, which includes important new discussions on "Madison & Vine" (the merging of advertising and entertainment to break through the clutter), return on advertising, and other important topics. A restructured Chapter 16 now combines personal selling and sales promotion. EJ The new Chapter 17-Direct and Online Marketing-provides focused new coverage of direct marketing and its fastest-growing arm, marketing on the Internet. The new chapter includes a section on new digital direct-marketing technologies, such as mobile phone marketing, podcasts and vodcasts, and interactive TV.

Preface

xdii

We've revised the pricing discussions in Chapter 10-Pricing: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value. It now focuses on customer-value-based pricing-on understanding and capturing customer value as the basis for setting and adjusting prices. The revised chapter includes new discussions of ccgood-value"and "value-added" pricing strategies, dynamic pricing, and competitive pricing considerations. In line with the text's emphasis on measuring and managing return on marketing, we've added a new Appendix 2: Marketing by the Numbers. This comprehensive new appendix introduces students to the marketing financial analysis that .. -.... helps to guide, assess, and support marketing decisions in this age of marketing accountability. The Return on Marketing section in Chapter 2 has also been revised, and we've added return on advertising and return on selling discussions in later chapters. Chapter 9 contains a new section on managing new-product development, covering new customer-driven, team-based, "G Pricing, Break-Even,and Margin Anal$ holistic new-product developPricing Considen~tions ment approaches. Chapter 5 (Consumer Behavior) provides a new discussion on "online social networks" that tells how marketers are tapping digital online networks such as YouTube, MySpace, and others to build stronger relationships between their brands and customers. EJ

-p-u,-----u---

The twelfth edition also includes new and expanded material on a wide range of other topics, including managing customer relationships and CRM, brand strategy and positioning, SWOT analysis, data mining and data networks, ethnographic consumer research, marketing and diversity, generational marketing, buzz marketing, services marketing, supplier satisfaction and partnering, environmental sustainability, cause-related marketing, socially responsible marketing, global marketing strategies, and much, much more. Countless new examples have been added within the running text. All tables, examples, and references throughout the text have been thoroughly updated. The twelfth edition of Principles of Marketing contains mostly new photos and advertisements that illustrate key points and make the text more effective and appealing. All new or revised company cases and many new video cases help to bring the real world directly into the classroom. The text even has a new look, with freshly designed figures. We don't think you'll find a fresher, more current, or more approachable text anywhere.

Principles of Marketing features in-depth, real-world examples and stories that show concepts in action and reveal the drama of modern marketing. In the twelfth edition, every chapter-opening vignette and Real Marketing highlight has been updated or replaced to provide fresh and relevant insights into real marketing practices. Learn how: NASCAR creates avidly loyal fans by selling not just stock car racing but a high-octane, totally involving experience Best Buy builds the right relationships with the right customers by going out of its way to attract and keep profitable "angel" customers while exorcizing unprofitable "demons" Nike's "Just do it!" marketing strategy has matured as this venerable market leader has moved from maverick to mainstream

Preface

Harrah's, the world's largest casino operator, maintains a vast customer database and uses CRM to manage day-to-day customer relationships and build customer loyalty Dunkin' Donuts targets the "Dunkin' Tribeu-not the Starbucks snob but the average Joe

EA

-----------!

Tiny nicher Bike Friday creates customer evangelistsdelighted customers who can't wait to tell others about the company PJ Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs used dazzling customer- driven innovation to first start the company and then to remake it again 20 years later s Staples held back its nowfamiliar "Staples: That was easy" repositioning campaign for more than a year. First, it had to live the slogan. Ryanair-Europe's original, largest, and most profitable low-fares airline-appears to have found a radical new pricing solution: Fly bee! The NBA has become one of today's hottest global brands, jamming down one international slam dunk after another Dove-with its Campaign for Real Beauty campaign featuring candid and confident images of real women of all types-is on a bold mission to create a broader and healthier view of e

A " . < *

j

I

r Marketing Strategy

1

I9&n"mn*~r..-.G3RM~2'c=P-p."m"M-MY.\r*r(hddd

--

,",dl*ruhnP2~.,,Wlolm,mrmDI5U~

unrY1..**lb*MM"iml ~lnunndul~*Caunul*~*-I%M-Mysr*WXkM*S-

mUlu...4mmnMIMIPXdd19~m irtr bl-4 PNnn ea~M 2 vnp

u.wmd%b='T'm--iuy. m,wrnnUPmldM.Um-%"%

,

Mmoillo.lrpm*onLh--o-

-

*-m---n-Ip,wprs

NUl~uunn"--m-.MM-hn*si.nnur.l...~%3-Pilb, B. - P L B b r . ~ l ) Y 1 Y a % v " l d m M Y P Y P 9* ae(D*-.ol--LIIIIIIII.ld

mcnn*Wdm-adCi.biP-nm

~"ec.,zenn-guMm-~ have enjoyed a boom.17 Generation Y oldsters have now graduated from college and are moving up in their careers. Like the trailing edge of the Generation Xers ahead of them, one distinguishing characteristic of Generation Y is their utter . Some 87 percent of half of the 87 percent go online every day, and 84 percent of teens own at least one networked device, such as a cell phone, blackberry, or computer. In all, they are an impatient, now-oriented bunch. "Blame it on the relentless and dizzying pace of the Internet, 24-hour cable news cycles, cell phones, and TiVo for creating the on-demand, gottaget-it-now universe in which we live," says one observer. "Perhaps nowhere is the trend more pronounced than among the Gen Y set."18 Generation Y represents an message-saturated segment effective the popularity of action sports with Gen Yers has provided creative marketing opportunities for products ranging from clothes to video games, movies, and even beverages. Mountain Dew's edgy and irreverent positioning makes it a natural for the action-sport crowd. But more than just showing snowboarders, skateboarders, and surfers in its ads, Mountain Dew has become a true action-sports supporter. It sponsors the ESPN XGames, the Vans Triple Crown, and numerous action-sport athletes. It even started its own grassroots skate park tour, the Mountain Dew Free Flow Tour. As a result of these and other actions, Mountain Dew has become the beverage of choice for men ages 18 to 24.19 The automobile industry is aggressively targeting this future generation of car buyers. By 2010, Generation Y will buy one of every four new cars sold in the United States. Toyota even created a completely new brand-the Scion-targeted to Gen Yers (see Real Marketing 3.1). Scion and other automakers are using a variety of programs and pitches to lure Generation Y as they move into their key car-buying years20 Recently, Toyota quietly began an unusual virtual promotion of its small, boxy Scion: It paid for the car's product placement in Whyville.net, an online interactive community populated almost entirely by 8- to 15-year-olds. Never mind that they cannot actually buy the car. Toyota is counting on Whyvillians to do two things-influence their parents' car purchases and maybe grow up with some Toyota brand loyalty. It may appear counterintuitive, but Toyota says the promotion is working. Ten days into the campaign, visitors to the site had used the word "Scion" in online chats more than 78,000 times; hundreds of virtual Scions were purchased, using "clams," the currency of Whyville; and the community meeting place, "Club Scion," was visited 33,741 times. These online Scion owners customized their cars, drove around the virtual Whyville, and picked up their Scion-less friends for a ride. DOmarketers need to create separate products and marketing programs for each generation? Some experts warn that marketers must be careful about turning off one generation each time they craft a product or message that appeals effectively to another.

i

72

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

In the late 1990s, as Toyota's management team peered through the corporate windshield, it took great pride in the company's accomplishments in the US. market. Riding a wave of loyal baby boomers who had grown up with its Toyota and Lexus models, the company had become one of the nation's most powerful automobile brands. Yet when the team looked down at the corporate dashboard, they saw the "check engine" light flashing. As the baby boomers had aged, the age of the average Toyota customer had risen as well. The median Toyota buyer was 49; the median Lexus buyer, 54. Too few younger customers were lining up to buy Toyotas. Gen Yers by the millions were now reaching driving age, and Toyota wasn't speaking their language. In fact, Toyota's strong reputation among the baby boomers for quality, efficiency, and value had translated to more youthful consumers as, well, "stodgy." Other auto manufacturers were facing this same Gen Y problem. Honda's durable, easy-to-customize Civic had met with some success with younger buyers, but that brand's appeal was fading. Honda followed with the boxy Element, which one observer described as a "Swiss Army knife on wheels," and which Honda promoted as "a dorm room on wheels." The Element sold well but often attracted the wrong market-boomers and Gen Xers (average age 43) looking for something to transport their flowers and power tools. Toyota had also tried before with three vehicles in its Genesis Project: the frumpy Echo, an edgy Celica, and a pricey but impractical MR2 Spider. Each had failed to score with young people.

So, in the early 2000s, Toyota went back to the drawing board. The challenge was to keep Gen Y from seeing Toyota as "old people trying to make a young person's car." Success depended on understanding this new generation of buyers, a segment of strangers to most car marketers. "They demand authenticity, respect for their time, and products built just for them," observed a senior Toyota executive. "They are in their early 205 new to us, and have changed every category they have touched so far. It's the most diverse generation ever seen." The search for a new, more youthful model began in Toyota's own driveway. Following orders to "loosen up," Toyota engineers in Japan had designed and successfully introduced a boxy microvan, the bB, and a five-door hatchback, the "ist" (pronounced "east"). The company decided to rename these vehicles and introduce them in the United States. Thus was born Toyota's Gen Y brand, the Scion (Sighun). Following soon after, Toyota added the Scion tC coupe, which adds more power and driving pleasure to the Scion equation. In the Scion, Toyota created not just a new car brand, but new marketing approaches as well. Accelerate to Memorial Day weekend in late May 2003. Twentysomething Toyota reps sporting goatees and sunglasses have set up shop near a major intersection in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Standing under banners heralding the new Scion brand, with hip-hop music blaring in the background, the reps encourage young passersby to test drive two new models, the Scion xA hatchback and the Scion xB van.

To target Gen Yers, with their "built-just-for-them"

"Personalization besins here-

Others caution that each generation spans decades of time and many socioeconomic levels. For example, marketers often split the baby boomers into three smaller groups-leading boomers, core boomers, and trailing boomers-each with its o w n beliefs and behaviors. Similarly, they split Generation Y i n t o Gen Y adults and Gen Y teens. Thus, marketers need to form more precise qe-specific segments within each group. More important, defining people b y their birth date may be less effective than segmenting them b

-

The "traditional household" consists o f a husband, wife, a n d children (and sometimes grandparents). Yet, the once American i d e a l o f the two-child, two-car suburban family has lately been losing some o f its luster. In the U n i t e d States today, married couples w i t h children make u p o n l y 23 percent o f the nation's 111 m i l l i o n households; married couples w i t h o u t c h i l d r e n make up 28 percent;

Chapter 3

This was not your typical Toyota sales event-it was the opening round in a campaign to solve, finally, the Gen Y riddle. And it signaled the most unorthodox new-car campaign in the company's 70-year history-a campaign that was edgy, urban, and underground. To speak to Gen Y, Toyota shunned traditional marketing approaches and employed guerrilla tactics. Its young marketing team put up posters with slogans such as "No Clone Zone" and "Ban Normality," even projecting those slogans onto buildings at night. It held "rideand-drive" events, like the one in San Francisco, to generate spontaneous test-drives by taking its cars to potential customers instead of waiting for them to find their way to stiowrooms. It put brochures in alternative publications such as Urb and Tokion, and it sponsored events at venues ranging from hip-hop nightclubs and urban pubs to library lawns. Toyota assigned Dawn Ahmed and Brian Bolain, two young members of its product development staff, to head the US. promotional campaign. Understanding the "built-just-for-them" preferences of the Gen Y target market, Ahmed and Bolain decided to position the Scion on personalization. They appealed to the new youth-culture club of "tuners," young fans of tricked-out vehicles (such as BMW's wildly successful Mini Cooper) who wanted to customize their cars from bumper to bumper. "We saw that the tuner phenomenon was really spreading, and took that idea of customization to a totally different level," Ahmed notes. "It comes back to that thing of rational versus emotional," observes Bolain. "Scion buyers have all the rational demands of a Toyota buyer, but they also want more fun, personality, and character." So, along with all of the traditional Toyota features-like lots of airbags, remote keyless entry, and a 160-watt Pioneer stereo with MP3 capability-the Scion offers lots of room for individual selfexpression. The staff worked with after-market auto-parts suppliers to develop specially designed Scion add-ons. To create their own oneof-a-kind cars, customers can select from 40 different accessory products, such as LED interior lighting and illuminated cup holders, wake-the-dead stereo systems, and stiffer shocks. As Bolain points out, "[We wanted the Scion to be a] blank canvas on which the consumer can make the car what they would like it to be." Toyota dealers who have agreed to sell Scions provide special areas in their showrooms where customers can relax, check out the

The Marketing Environment

73

cars, and create their own customized Scions on computers linked to Scion's Web site. And Scion buyers do, indeed, customize their cars. The Scion xA and Scion xB start at "no haggle" prices around $13,000 and $14,000, respectively. But 48 percent of Scion buyers spend another $1,000 to $3,000 to customize their cars. Two-thirds of buyers labor at the Scion Web site, configuring just the car they want before ever walking into the dealership. How is Toyota's Scion strategy working? The California launch was so successful that Toyota quickly rolled out the Scion nationally, finishing the process in June 2004. Scion blew past its first-year, 60,000-unit sales target by mid-2004, selling 100,000 units for the year. Toyota sold nearly 160,000 Scions the next year and sales remain brisk. Most importantly, the Scion is bringing a new generation of buyers into the Toyota family. Eighty percent of Scion buyers have never before owned a Toyota. And the average age of a Scion buyer is 31, the youngest in the automotive industry. That overstates the average age of a Scion driver, given that many parents are buying the car for their kids. All this success, however, brings new challenges. For example, according to an industry analyst, Gen Y consumers "disdain cornmercialism and don't really want 'their brand' to be discovered." To maintain its appeal to these young buyers, as the brand becomes more mainstream, Scion will have to keep its models and messages fresh and honest. Says VP Jim Farley, "We want to [reach out to youthful buyers] without shouting 'Buy This Car.' " Sources: Quotes from Lillie Guyer, "Scion Connects in Out-of-Way Places," Advertising Age, February 21, 2005, p. 38. Also see Brett Corbin, "Toyota's Scion Line Banks on Tech-Savvy Younger Drivers," Business First, June 18, 2004, p. 11; Nick Kurczewski, "Who's Your Daddy?Staid Toyota Gets a Hip Implant," New York Times, July 25, 2004, p. 12; Patrick Paternie, "Driven by Personality," Los Angeles Times, January 6,2005, p. E34; Karl Greenberg, "Dawn Ahrned," Brandweek, April 11, 2005, p. 33; Chris Woodyard, "Outside-the-Box Scion Scores Big with Young Drivers," May 3, 2005, accessed at

www.detnews.corn/2005/autosinsider/0505/03/1auto-170121.htm; Mark Rechtin, "Scion's Delimrna: Be Hip-But Avoid the Mainstream," Automotive News, May 22, 2006, pp. 42-45; and Julie Bosrnan, "Hey, Kid, You Want to Buy A Scion?" New York Times, June 14,2006, p. C2.

a n d single parents comprise another 16 percent. A full 32 percent are n o n f a m i l y households-single live-alones or adult live-togethers o f one or b o t h sexes.21 M o r e people are divorcing or separating, choosing n o t to marry, marrying later, or marryi n g w i t h o u t i n t e n d i n g to have children. Marketers m u s t increasingly consider the special needs of nontraditional households, because they are n o w growing more r a p i d l y than traditional households. Each group has distinctive needs a n d b u y i n g habits. The number o f working women has also increased greatly, growing from under 40 percent of the U.S. workforce in the late 1950s to around 77 percent in 2000. However, research i n d i cates that the trend m a y be slowing. After increasing steadily since 1976, the percentage of w o m e n w i t h children under age one in the workforce has fallen during the past few years.22 Meanwhile, more m e n are staying home w i t h their children, managing the household w h i l e their wives go to work. According t o the census, the number of stay-at-home dads has risen 1 8 percent since 1 9 9 4 . ~ ~

74

Part 2 Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

INTRODUCING DREAMDINNERS.' All the jy of a family meal. None of the hassle.

Dream Dinners lets you choose 12 wonderful entrees you assemble once a month and then serve to your family in the weeks ahead. Dream Dinners. All the ingredients for a great meal."

The significant number of women in the workforce has spawned the child day care business and increased consumption of careeroriented women's clothing, financial services, and convenience foods and services. An example is Dream Dinners, Inc., a national franchise chain created by a busy working mom who invited fellow busy moms to her catering kitchen to prepare make-ahead meals. People visiting a Dream Dinners store can prepare up to a dozen family meals i n under two hours, with cleanup handled by the store's staff. Using workstations, they prepare healthy meals ranging from Kung Pao Chicken to New England Pot Roast, take them home i n coolers, and store them i n the freezer until needed. A dozen meals, each serving four to six people, cost under $200. With over 155 locations, Dream Dinners gives precious family time back to harried working parents.24

This is a period of great migratory movements between and within co example, are a mobile percent of all U.S. residents moving each year. Over the past two decades, the U.S. population has shifted toward the Sunbelt states. The West dreamdinners. corn and South have grown, while the Midwest and ~ o r t h e a s states t have lost p ~ p u l a t i o n Such .~~ cause Businesses like Dream Dinners have arisen to serve the growing number of y. For working women. The chain was created by a busy working mom who invited fellow example, research shows that people in Seattle busy mothers to her catering kitchen to prepare make-ahead meals. With Dream buy more toothbrushes per capita than people Dinners, you get "All the joy of a family meal. None of the hassle." in any other U.S. city; people in Salt Lake City eat more candy bars; and people in Miami drink more prune juice. Also, for more than a century, Americans have been areas. In the 1950s, they made a massive exit from th migration to the suburbs continues. And more and more Americans are moving to "micropolitan areas," small cities located beyond congested metropolitan areas. Drawing refugees from rural and suburban America, these smaller micros offer many of the advantages of metro areas-jobs, restaurants, diversions, community organizations-but without the population crush, traffic jams, high crime rates, and high property taxes often associated with heavily urbanized areas.26 The shift in where people live has also caused a shift in For example, the migration toward micropolitan and suburban areas has resulted in a rapid increase -work at home or in a remote office and con'

telecomm&ed at least one day a month last year, twice the n u i b e r from 2000, with the help of electronic conveniences such as PCs, cell phones, fax machines, PDA devices, and fast Internet access.27 Many marketers are actively courting the home office segment of this lucrative SOH0 market. For example, FedEx Kinko's is much more than just a self-service copy shop. Targeting small officelhome office customers, it services as a well-appointed office outside the home. People can come to a FedEx Kinko's store to do all their office jobs: They can copy, send and receive faxes, use various programs on the computer, go on the Internet, order stationery and other printed supplies, ship packages, and even rent a conference room or conduct a teleconference. As more and more people join the work-at-home trend,

Chapter 3 The Marketing Environment

75

FedEx Kinko's offers an escape from the isolation of the home office. Its ads proclaim, "Our office is your office."

The U.S. population is becoming b a e r eduof the U.S. population over age 25 had completed high school and 28 percent had completed college, compared with 69 percent and 17 percent in 1980. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of high school graduates now enroll in college within

4 For example, in 2004, 85 percent

orkforce also is becoming more white-collar. Between 1950 and 1985, the proportion of white-collar workers rose from 41 percent to 54 percent, that of blue-collar workers declined from 47 percent to 33 percent, and that of service workers increased from 12 percent to 14 percent. Between 1983 and 1999, the proportion of managers and professionals in the workforce increased from 23 percent to more than 30 percent. Job growth is now strongest for professional workers and weakest for manufacturers. Between 2004 and 2014, the number of professional workers is expected to increase 2 1 percent and manufacturing is expected to decline 5 percent.2g

E 4 Geographic shifts: To serve the burgeoning small office/home office market,

FedEx Kinko's has reinvented itself as the well-appointed office outside the home. "Our ofice is your office," says the company.

Countries vary in their ethnic and racial makeup. At one extreme is Japan, where almost everyone is Japanese. At the other e m n i t e d States, with people from virtually all nations. The United States has often b,e diverse groups from many nations and cultures have melted into a whole. Instead, the United States seems to have become more of a arious groups have mixed together but have maintained their diversity by retaining and valuing important ethnic and cultural differences. Marketers are facing increasingly diverse markets, ations become more international in scope. The U.S. with Hispanics at 14.4 percent and African Americans at 13.4 percent. The U.S. Asian American population now totals about 4 percent of the population, with the remaining 1percent made up of American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut. Moreover, more than 34 million people living in the United States-more than 1 2 percent of the population-were born in another country. The nation's ethnic populations are expected to explode in coming decades. By 2050, Hispanics will comprise an estimated 24 percent of the U.S. population, with African Americans at 13 percent and Asians at 9 percent.30 Most large companies, from Procter & Gamble, Sears, Wal-Mart, Allstate, and Bank of America to Levi Strauss and General Mills, now designed products, ads, and promotions to one or more of F tate worked with Kang & Lee Advertising, a leading multicu ing agency, to create an award-winning marketing campaign aimed at the single largest Asian group in the country-Chinese Americans. Creating culturally significant messages for this market was no easy matter. Perhaps the most daunting task was translating Allstate's iconic "You're In Good Hands With ~ l l s t a t e ~ slogan " into Chinese.31 There's nary a U.S.-born citizen who doesn't know that, when it comes to insurance, you are in good hands with Allstate. But to Chinese Americans, Allstate was not the first insurance company that came to mind. So Allstate asked Kang & Lee Advertising to help it translate the "good hands" concept into the Chinese market.

76

Part 2

Understanding t h e Marketplace and Consumers

The trick was to somehow make the company's longtime brand identity relevant to this group. Problem was, the English slogan just doesn't make sense in any Chinese dialect. After months of qualitative consumer research and discussion with Chinese American Allstate agents, Kang & Lee came up with a Chinese-language version of the tag line, which, roughly translated, says "turn to our hands, relax your heart, and be free of worry." The campaign started in Seattle and New York and has since expanded to California. Studies in the first two cities show that awareness of Allstate in the Chinese American community had doubled within six month of the start of the campaign. Diversity goes beyond ethnic heritage. For example, y Newspaper Guild's publications found that, compared to the average American, respondents are 12 times more likely to be in professional jobs, almost twice as likely to own a vacation home, eight times more likely to own a notebook computer, and twice as likely to own individual stocks. More than two-thirds have graduated from college and 2 1 percent hold a master's degree. They are twice as likely as the general population to have a household income over $250,000. In all, the gay and lesbian market spent more than $640 billion on goods and services last year.32 With hit TV shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Oscarwinning movies such as Brokeback Mountain and Capote, the gay and lesbian community has increasingly emerged into the public eye. A number of media now provide companies with access to this market. For !B Multicultural marketing: Allstate created an aw8rd-winning example, Planetout Inc., a leading global media commarketing campaign aimed a t the single largest Asian group i n the pany, exclusively serves the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and county-Chinese Americans. The most daunting task: translating transgender (GLBT) community with several successful Allstate's iconic "You're I n Good Hands With Allstate@" slogan into magazines (Out, The Advocate, Out Traveler) and Web Chinese. sites (Gay.com, PlanetOut.com, Out&About.com). In 2005, media giant Viacom introduced Logo, a cable television network aimed at the gay men and lesbians and their friends and family. Logo is now available in 23 million U.S. households. More than 60 mainstream marketers have advertised on Logo, including Ameriprise Financial, Anheuser-Busch, Continental Airlines, Dell, eBay, General Motors, Johnson &Johnson, Orbitz, Sears, Sony, and Subaru. Here are examples of some gay and lesbian marketing efforts:33 12

With an estimated $65 billion in annual travel expenditures, the American gay and lesbian community is a much sought-after leisure travel segment. Some 53 percent of this segment spends $5,000 or more per person on vacations each year, and 98 percent say that a destination's "gay-friendly reputation" factors into their decision to travel there. Las Vegas, like other cities, aims to snag a larger slice of the gay and lesbian travel pie. The city recently unveiled its first gay promotional push. It placed ads from its universally appealing Vegas ad campaign, "What happens here, stays here," in leading gay publications: The Advocate, Out, and Out Traveler. It also placed ads on the Logo network, along with sponsorship of episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Whereas other popular gay getaways, such as Key West, Florida and Palm Springs, California, promote +emselves as places where guests will enjoy a largely gay community, Las Vegas urges gays to experience the same attractions that appeal to everyone else. "We're trying to attract this subculture here to immerse themselves into the Las Vegas experience," says the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's vice president of marketing. So far, the push seems to be work-

Chapter 3 The Marketing Environment

77

ing. Gays and lesbians now rank Las Vegas as their second-favorite travel destination, behind only New York City. IBM fields a paid, full-time sales team dedicated to bringing GLBT decision makers in contact with DM. The company targeted the gay small-business community with an ad that ran in The Advocate, Out, and about 40 other gay-themed publications. The ad pictures a diverse group of men and women and links IBM's Armonk, New York headquarters with well-known gay communities: "Chelsea/ Provincetown/The Castro/Armonk." The six people shown in the ad are among the 1,100 IBM employees who make up the company's GLBT Network. IBM launched the GLBT group three years ago when research showed that gay business owners are more likely to buy from gay salespeople. Over the past several years, IBM has received numerous awards acknowledging its commitment to the GLBT community. Another attractive segment is the nearly 60 million people with-abiliti_es-in the United States-a market larger than African Americans or Hispanics-representing over $220 billion in annual spending power. This market is expected to grow as the baby boomers age. People with disabilities appreciate products that work for them. Explains Jim Tobias, president of Inclusive Technologies, a consultancy specializing in accessible products, "those with disabilities tend to be brand evangelists for products they love. Whereas consumers may typically tell 10 friends about a favorite product, people with disabilities might spread the word to 10 times that [many]."34 How are companies trying to reach these consumers? Many marketers now recognize that the worlds of people with disabilities and those without disabilities are one in the same. Says one marketer, "The 'us and them' paradigm is obsolete." Consider the following Avis example:35 A common theme in much of the recent crop of mainstream ads, in fact, is that the disability is virtually an afterthought. A recent New York Marathon-themed print ad for car rental company Avis features an image of a marathoner in a wheelchair, but the copy-"We honor participants of the New York Marathon for spirit, courage, and unrelenting drive"-addresses the racers at large. Since 2003, Avis has offered a suite of products and services that make vehicles more accessible to renters with disabilities, helping to make travel easier and less stressful for everyone. Most recently, Avis has become the official sponsor of the Achilles Track Club, an international organization that supports individuals with disabilities who want to participate in mainstream athletics. Says an Avis marketing executive, "The Achilles athletes themselves truly exemplify the character we strive for at Avis, with their 'we try harder' Avis targets people w i t h disabilities by offering a suite of products and services spirit. Some are amputees back from t h a t make vehicles more accessible. It also sponsors t h e Achilles Track Club, which Iraq; others are visually impaired. But now all of them are setting their sights supports individuals with disabilities who want t o participate i n mainstream athletics. on what they can achieve." ,

/Q'/

Economic environment Factors that affect consumer buying power and spending patterns.

As the population i n the United States grows more diverse, successful marketers will continue to diversify their marketing programs to take advantage of opportunities in fastgrowing s-egments.

Ecowsaic Eaviro~xmen$ Markets require buying power as well as people. The economic environment consists of factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending patterns. their levels and distribution of income. Some countries have subsistence economies-they

78

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers consume most of their own agricultural and industrial output. These countries offer few mares. At the other extreme are industrial economies, which constitute kets for many different kinds of goods. Marketers must pay close attention to major trends and consumer spending patterns both across and within their world markets. Following are some of the major economic trends in the United States.

-

Throughout the 1990s, American consumers fell into a consumption frenzy, fueled by income growth, a boom in the stock market, rapid increases in housing values, and other economic good fortune. They bought and bought, seemingly without caution, amassing record levels of debt. However, the .free spending and high expectations of those days were dashed . In fact, we are now facing the age of the "squeezed by the recent consumer." Along with rising incomes in some segments have come increased financial burdens. consumers now face7repaying debts acquired during earlier spending splurges, increased household and family expenses, and saving ahead for college tuition payments and retirement. These financially squeezed consumers have adjusted to their changing financial situations and are spending more carefully. Value marketing has become the watchword for many marketers. Rather than offering high quality at a high price, or lesser quality at very low prices, marketers are looking for ways to offer today's more financially cautious buyers greater value-just the right combination of product quality and good service at a fair price. Marketers should pay attention to income distribution as well as average income. Income distribution in the United States is still very skewed. At the top are upper-class consumers, whose spending patterns are not affected by current economic events and who are a major market for luxury goods. There is a comfortable middle class that is somewhat careful about its spending but can still afford the good life some of the time. The working class must stick close to the basics of food, clothing, and shelter and must try hard to save. Finally, the underclass (persons on welfare and many retirees) must count their pennies when making even the most basic purchases.

families now control 30.4 percent of the net worth, down 3.5 points.36 This distribution of income has created a t Nordstrom and Neiman-Marcus department stores such as Dollar General and Family Dollar stores-target those with more modest means. In fact, such dollar stores are now the fastest growing retailers in the nation. Still other companies tailor their marketing offers across a range of markets, from the affluent to the less affluent. For example, Levi-Strauss currently markets several different jeans lines. The Signature line of low-priced Levi's are found on the shelves of low-end retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. Levi's moderately priced Red Tab line sells at retailers such as Kohl's and J.C. Penney. Boutique lines, such as Levi's [Capital El and Warhol Factory X Levi's, sell in the Levi's Store and at high-end retailers such as Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters. You can buy Levi 501 jeans at any of three different price levels. The Red Tab 501s sell for around $35, the Levi's [Capital El for about $100, and the Warhol Factory X Levi's for $250 or more.37

Food, housing, and transportation use up the most household income. However, consumers at different income levels have different spending patterns. Some of these differences were noted over a century ago by Ernst Engel, who studied how people shifted their spending as their income rose. -H&found that a; familv income rises: the ~ e r c e n t a ~mee i t on food Engel's

laws

Differences noted over a century ago by Ernst Engel in how people shift their spending across food, housing, transportation, health care, and other goods and services categories as family income rises.

gas, electricity, and public services, Changes in major economic variables such as income, cost of living, interest rates, and savings and borrowing patterns have a large impact on the marketplace. Compies watcb Businesses do not have to be wiped out by an . With adequate warning, they can take advantage of changes in the economic environment.

Chapter 3 The Marketing Environment

79

r".

atural environment Natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities.

H Responding to consumer

demands for more environmentally responsible products, G E is using "ecomagination" to create products for a better world.

The natural environment involves the natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities. Environmental concerns have grown steadily during the past three decades. In many cities around the world, air and water pollution have reached dangerous levels. World concern continues to mount about the possibilities of global warming, and many environmentalists fear that we soon will be buried in our own trash. Marketers should be aware of several trends in the natural environment. The first involves growing shortages of raw materials. Air and water may seem to be infinite resources, but some groups see long-run dangers. Air pollution chokes many of the world's large cities, and water shortages are already a big problem in some parts of the United States and the world. Renewable resources, such as forests and food, also have to be used wisely. Nonrenewable resources, such as oil, coal, and various minerals, pose a serious problem. Firms making products that require these scarce resources face large cost increases, even if the materials do remain available. A second environmental trend is increased pollution. Industry will almost always damage the quality of the natural environment. Consider the disposal of chemical and nuclear wastes; the dangerous mercury levels in the ocean; the quantity of chemical pollutants in the soil and food supply; and the littering of the environment with nonbiodegradable bottles, plastics, and other packaging materials. A third trend is increased government intervention in natural resource management. The governments of different countries vary in their concern and efforts to promote a clean environment. Some, like the German government, vigorously pursue environmental quality. Others, especially many poorer nations, do little about pollution, largely because they lack the needed funds or political will. Even the richer nations lack the vast funds and political accord needed to mount a worldwide environmental effort. The general hope is that companies around the world will accept more social responsibility, and that less expensive devices can be found to control and reduce pollution. In the United States, the-~nvironmental Protection A m y (EPA) was created in 1970 to set and enforce pollution standards and to conduct pollution research. In the future, companies doing business-in the United states can expect continued strong controls from and pressure groups. Instead of opposing regulation, marketers should help develop solutions to the material and energy problems facing the world. Concern for .the natural environment has spawned the so-called green movement. Today, enlightened companies go beyond what government regulations dictate. They are developing environmentally sustainable strategies and practices in an effort to create a world economy

80

Part 2 Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

that the planet can support indefinitely. They are responding to consumer demands with more environmentally responsible products. For example, GE is using its "ecomagination" to create products for a better world-cleaner aircraft engines, cleaner locomotives, cleaner fuel technologies. Other companies are developing recyclable or biodegradable packaging, recycled materials and components, better pollution controls, and more energy-efficient operations. For example, HP is pushing legislation to force recycling of old TVs, computers, and other electronic gear:38 HP wants your old PCs back. A few years ago, when environmentalists in Washington State began agitating to banish high-tech junk from landfills and scrub the nation's air and water of lead, chromium, mercury, and other toxins prevalent in digital debris, they found an unexp.ected ally: Hewlett-Packard. Teaming up with greens and retailers, HP took on IBM, Apple Computer, and several major TV manufacturers, which were resisting recycling programs because of the costs. Aided by HP's energetic lobbying, the greens persuaded state lawmakers to adopt a landmark program that forces electronics companies to foot the bill for recycling their old equipment. With HP's help, the movement to recycle electronic refuse, or "e-waste," is now spreading across the nation. HP's efforts have made it the darling of environmentalists, but its agenda isn't entirely altruistic. Take-back laws play to the company's strategic strengths. For decades the computer maker has invested in recycling systems, giving it a head start against competitors. Last year, HP recycled more than 70,000 tons of product, the equivalent of about 10 percent of company sales. And it collected more than 2.5 million units of hardware to be refurbished for resale or donation. No other electronics maker has a recycling and resale program on this scale. "We see legislation coming," says HP's vice-president for corporate, social, and environmental responsibility. "A lot of companies haven't stepped up to the plate. . . . If we do this right, it becomes an advantage to us." Thus, companies today are looking to do more than just good deeds. More and more, they are recognizing the link between a healthy ecology and a healthy economy. They are learning that environmentally responsible actions can also be good business (see Real Marketing 3 . 2 ) . ;

Technological Environment Technological environment Forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities.

The technological environment is perhaps the most dramatic force now shaping our destiny. Technology has released such wonders as antibiotics, robotic surgery, miniaturized electronics, laptop computers, and the Internet. It also has released such horrors as nuclear missiles, chemical weapons, and assault rifles. It has released such mixed blessings as the automobile, television, and credit cards. Our attitude toward technology depends on whether we are more impressed with its wonders or its blunders. For example, what would you think about having tiny little transmitters implanted in all of the products you buy that would allow tracking products from their point of production through use and disposal? On the one hand, it would provide ,many advantages to both buyers and sellers. On the other hand, it could be a bit scary. Either way, it's already Envision a world in which every product contains a tiny transmitter, loaded with information. As you stroll through the supermarket aisles, shelf sensors detect your selections and beam ads to your shopping cart screen, offering special deals on related products. As your cart fills, scanners detect that you might be buying for a dinner party; the screen suggests a wine to go with the meal you've planned. When you leave the store, exit scanners total up your purchases and automatically charge them to your credit card. At home, readers track what goes into and out of your pantry, updating your shopping list when stocks run low. For Sunday dinner, you pop a Butterball turkey into your "smart oven," which follows instructions from an embedded chip and cooks the bird to perfection. Seem far-fetched? Not really. In fact, it might soon become a reality, thanks to tiny radio-frequency identification (RFID) transmitters-or "smart chips"-that can be embedded in the products you buy. Beyond benefits to consumers, the RFID chips also give producers and retailers an amazing new way to track their products electronically-anywhere in the world, anytime, automatically-from factories, to

-

Chapter 3

If a tree falls in the rain forest and no one is there to trumpet its eco-friendliness, does it still make a sound? It at wood is destined for an electric guitar. Gibson Guitar, the iconic guitar maker, has worked since the late 1980s to make its wood supply environmentally sustainable. Gibson's electric-guitar division recently switched to 100 percent fair-trade-certified wood. Other Gibson divisions, including Baldwin Piano, plan to follow suit. Yet, unlike Starbucks, The Body Shop, and other businesses that eagerly brandish their green deeds, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz doesn't much care to flaunt his environmental credentials (the guy drives a Hummer, after all). What matters to him is ensuring that Gibson has enough exotic wood, mostly mahogany, to keep making guitars for generations. "We're mercenaries. We're a company. We're for-profit," Juszkiewicz says in his Nashville office, packed with so many musicindustry mementos it looks like his own private Hard Rock Cafe. "I'm not a conservationist." High-end guitar enthusiasts, after all, demand that their instruments be made of exotic woods. But prices for exotics can swing wildly, governed by an unsteady supply and the threat that some species may be placed on an extinction watch list. Juszkiewicz wanted to eliminate the guesswork by building a network of growers rather than relying on brokers scouring world markets for the best prices. He approached the Rainforest Alliance, a nonprofit conservation group, to discuss buying wood from Mexican suppliers certified as sustainable. (Such growers are graded against environmental, labor, and community standards-and for responsible harvesting.) But that hardly made a dent in Gibson's sourcing problems. So the company hired away two Rainforest Alliance employees to source wood in Costa Rica and Brazil. "Within the first year of hiring these guys, they were able to develop significant sources," Juszkiewicz says. "We went from less than 1percent usage of certified product to something like 80 percent." Since then, Gibson has forged a direct relationship with growers i? Guatemala. That provides both stability of supply and quality, because Gibson is able to instruct farmers on its exacting specifications. Initially, Juszkiewicz says, Gibson paid a premium for purchasing wood this way. Now buying direct creates modest savings-and the relationships help curb traditional slash-and-burn harvesting,

The Marketing Environment

81

Gibson Guitar works to make i t s exotic hardwood supply environmentally sustainable. The company has learned that environmentally friendly practices can also be good business.

which threatens supplies of precious woods. "In the short run, a slight price increase won't necessarily hurt them because a guitar is a higher-value product," says an industry expert. "In the long run, it helps ensure that they can tap this supply not just in five years but in fifty years." Tensie Whelan, executive director of the Rainforest Alliance, says she's seeing a critical mass of CEOs discoveringthat environmentally friendly practices can be good business. But she still teases Juszkiewicz, one of the first: "He'll say he's a businessman, that he's just out to make money. But believe me, he's passionate about wanting to leave the world a better place." Source: Adapted from Ryan Underwood, "In Tune with the Environment," Fast Company, February 2005, p. 26.

warehouses, to r e t a i l shelves, to recycling centers. RFID technology i s already in use. Every time consumers flash an E x x o n M o b i l Speed-Pass card to purchase gas at the p u m p or breeze through a n automated t o l l booth, they're using a n RFID chip. M a n y large firms are adding f u e l to the RFID fire. Procter & Gamble plans to have the chips o n products in broad distribution as soon as 2008. A n d at the request of mega-retailers s u c h as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, a n d Albertson's, suppliers have' n o w begun placing RFID tags o n selected products. The teclmological environment changes rapidly. ~ h i n of k a l l of today's common products that were n o t available 100 years ago, or even 30 years ago. Abraham L i n c o l n d i d n o t k n o w about automobiles, airplanes, radios, or the electric light. Woodrow W i l s o n d i d n o t k n o w about television, aerosol cans, automatic dishwashers, air conditioners, antibiotics, or computers. F r a n k l i n Delano Roosevelt did n o t k n o w about xerography, synthetic detergents, tape recorders, b i r t h control pills, or earth satellites. John F. Kennedy did n o t k n o w about personal computers, cell phones, iPods, or the Internet.

82

Part 2 Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

carbon-paper business, CDs hurt phonograph records, and digital photography hurt the film business. When old industries fought or ignored new technologies, their businesses declined. Thus, marketers should watch the technological environment closely. Companies that do not keep up will soon find their products outdated. And they will miss new product and market opportunities. The United States leads the world i n research and development spending. Total U.S. R&D spending reached an estimated $329 billion in 2006. The federal government was the H Technological environment: Technology is perhaps the most dramatic force largest R&D spender at about $132 billion.*O shaping the marketing environment. Here, a herder makes a call on his cell phone. Scientists today are researching a wide range of promising new products and services, ranging from practical solar energy, electric cars, and organ transplants to mind-controlled computers and genetically engineered food crops. Today's research usually is carried out by research teams rather than by lone inventors like Thomas Edison, Samuel Morse, or Alexander Graham Bell. Many companies are adding marketing people to R&D teams to try to obtain a stronger marketing orientation. Scientists also speculate on fantasy products, such as flying cars, three-dimensional televisions, and space colonies. The challenge in each case is not only technical but also commercial-to make practical, afjordable versions of these products. As products and technology become more complex, the public needs to know that these are safe. Thus, government agencies investigate and ban potentially unsafe products. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set up complex regulations for testing new drugs. The Consumer Product Safety Commission sets safety standards for consumer products and penalizes companies that fail to meet them. Such regulations have resulted in much higher research costs and in longer times between new-product ideas and their introduction. Marketers should be aware of these regulations when applying new technologies and developing new products.

Political environment Laws, government agencies, and pressure groups that influence and limit various organizat~onsand individuals in a given society.

Marketing decisions are strongly affected by developments in the political environment. The political environment consists of 1 that influence or limit various organizations and individuals in a given society.

Legisiatioll Reglllating Business Even the most liberal advocates of free-market economies agree that the system works best with at least some regulation. Well-concei ensure fair markets.for goods and services. T commerce-sets of laws and regulations that Almost every marketing activity is subject to Legislation affecting business around the world has increased steadily over the years. The United States has many laws covering issues such as c , fair trade ~ r a c t i w e privacy, packaging ~an1ommissl"o ork of laws covering competitive behavior, product standards, product liabiiity, and commercial transactions for the nations of the European Union. Several countries have gone further than the United States i n passing strong consumerism legislation. For example, Norway bans several forms of sales promotion-trading stamps, contests, premiums-as being inappropriate or unfair ways of promoting products.

Chapter 3

Ti4

-1

The Marketing Environment

83

Major U.S. Legislation Affecting Marketing

Purpose

Legislation

--

---

Sherman Antitrust Act ( 1890) Federal Food and Drug Act (1906) Clayton Act (1914)

Federal Trade Commission Act (19 14) Robinson-Patman Act (1936)

Wheeler-Lea Act (1938) Lanham Trademark Act (1946) National Traffic and Safety Act (1958) Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (1966) Child Protection Act (1966) Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (1967) National Environmental Policy Act (1969) Consumer Product Safety Act (1972)

Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (1975) Children's Television Act (1990) Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (1990) Telephone Consumer Protection Act (1991) Americans with Disabilities Act (1991) Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (2000) Do-Not-Call Implementation Act (2003)

-

Prohibits monopolies and activities (price fixing, predatory pricing) that restrain trade or competition in interstate commerce. Forbids the manufacture or sale of adulterated or fraudulently labeled foods and drugs. Created the Food and Drug Administration. Supplements the Sherman Act by prohibiting certain types of price discrimination, exclusive dealing, and tying clauses (which require a dealer to take additional products in a seller's line). Establishes a commission to monitor and remedy unfair trade methods. Amends Clayton Act to define price discrimination as unlawful. Empowers FTC to establish limits on quantity discounts, forbid some brokerage allowances, and prohibit promotional allowances except when made available on proportionately equal terms. Makes deceptive, misleading, and unfair practices illegal regardless of injury to competition. Places advertising of food and drugs under FTC jurisdiction. Protects and regulates distinctive brand names and trademarks. Provides for the creation of compulsory safety standards for automobiles and tires. Provides for the regulation of packaging and labeling of consumer goods. Requires that manufacturers state what the package contains, who made it, and how much it contains. Bans sale of hazardous toys and articles. Sets standards for child resistant packaging. Requires that cigarette packages contain the following statement: "Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Health." Establishes a national policy on the environment. The 1970 Reorganization Plan established the Environmental Protection Agency. Establishes the Consumer Product Safety Commission and authorizes it to set safety standards for consumer products as well as exact penalties for failure to uphold those standards. Authorizes the FTC to determine rules and regulations for consumer warranties and provides consumer access to redress, such as the class action suit. Limits number of commercials aired during children's programs. ~ e ~ u i r that e s food product labels provide detailed nutritional information. Establishes procedures to avoid unwanted telephone solicitations. Limits marketers' use of automatic telephone dialing systems and artificial or prerecorded voices. Makes discrimination against people with disabilities illegal in public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications. Prohibits Web sites or online services operators from collecting personal information from children without obtaining consent from a parent and allowing parents to review information collected from their children. Authorized the FTC to collect fees from sellers and telemarketers for the implementation and enforcement of a National Do-Not-Call Registry.

T h a i l a n d requires f o o d processors selling n a t i o n a l b r q d s t o also market low-price brands, so that l o w - i n c o m e consumers c a n find economy brands o n t h e shelves. In India, f o o d companies m u s t o b t a i n special approval t o l a u n c h brarids t h a t duplicate those already existing o n t h e market, s u c h as a d d i t i o n a l c o l a d r i n k s o r n e w brands o f rice. Understanding t h e p u b l i c p o l i c y i m p l i c a t i o n s of a particular marketing a c t i v i t y i s n o t a s i m p l e matter. F o r example, in t h e U n i t e d States, there are many l a w s created a t t h e national, state, and l o c a l levels, and these regulations o f t e n overlap. A s p i r i n s s o l d in Dallas are governed b o t h by federal labeling l a w s and by Texas state advertising laws. Moreover, regulations are constantly changing-what w a s a l l o w e d last year m a y n o w b e prohibited, and w h a t was p r o h i b i t e d m a y n o w b e allowed. Marketers m u s t w o r k hard t o keep up with changes in r e p lations and t h e i r interpretations. h a s b e e n enacted for a n u m b e r of reasons. T h e f i r s t i s t o protect other. A l t h o u g h business executives m a y praise competition, t h e y

84

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers sometimes try to neutralize it when it threatens them. So laws are passed to define and prevent unfair competition. In the United States, such laws are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the Attorney General's office. The second purpose of government regulation is to protect consumers from unfair busiand deceive co

unrestrained business behavior. Profitable business activity does not always create a better quality of life. Regulation arises to ensure that firms take responsibility for the social costs of their production or products. International marketers will encounter dozens, or even hundreds, of agencies set up to enforce trade policies and regulations. In the United States, Congress has established federal regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Energy .Regulatory Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency. e of the agencies sometimes have been dominated by lawyers and economists who lacked a practical sense of how business and marketing work. In recent years, the Federal Trade Commission has added staff marketing experts, who can better understand complex business issues. New laws and their enforcement will continue to increase. B need to understand these laws at the&cal, state, national, and international levels. P

Written regulations cannot possibly cover all potential marketing abuses, and existing laws are often difficult to enforce. However, beyond written laws and regulations, business is also governed by social codes and rules of professional ethics. Enlightened companies encourage their managers to look beyond what the regulatory system allows and simply responsible firms actively seek out ways to protect the 1 and the environment. The recent rash of business scandals and increased concerns about the environment have created fresh interest in the issues of ethics and social responsibility. Almost every aspect of marketing involves such issues. Unfortunately, because these issues usually involve conflicting interests, well-meaning people can honestly disagree about the right course of action in a given situation. Thus, many industrial and professional trade associations have suggested codes of ethics. And more companies are now developing policies, guidelines, and other responses to complex social responsibility issues. as created a new set of social and ethical issues. Critics There has been an explosion in the amount of perselves, supply some of it. They voluntarily place highly private information on social networking sites such as MySpace or on geneologyktes, which are easily searched by anyone with a PC. However, much of the information is systematically developed by businesses seeking to learn more about their customers, often without consumers realizing that they are under the microscope. Legitimate businesses plant cookies on consumers' PCs and collect, analyze, and share digital consumer information from every mouse click consumers make at their Web sites. Critics are concerned that companies may now know too much, and that some companies might use digital data to take unfair advantage of consumers. Although most companies fully disclose their Internet privacy policies, and most work to use data to benefit their customers, abuses do occur. As H resdt,consumer advocates and policymakers are taking action Throughout the text, we present Real Marketing exhibits that summarize the main public policy and social responsibility issues surrounding major marketing decisions. These exhibits

Chapter 3 The Marketing Environment

85

discuss the legal issues that marketers should understand and the common ethical and societal concerns that marketers face. In Chapter 20, we discuss a broad range of societal marketing issues in greater depth.

cancer research. Shop at EddieBauer.com &d have a percentage of your purchase go to support your local grade school. Purchase Habitat Coffee.and help Habitat for Humanity build a house for a needy family. Order the City Harvest Tasting Menu at Le Bernardin in New York City, and the restaurant donates $5 to City Harvest, which feeds the hungry by rescuing millions of pounds of edible food thrown away each year by the city's food businesses. Pay for these purchases with the right charge card and you can support a local cultural arts group or help fight heart disease. Cause-related marketing has become a primary form of corporate giving. It lets companies "do well by doing good" by linking purchases of the company's products or services with fund-raising for worthwhile causes or charitable organizations. Companies now sponsor dozens of cause-related marketing campaigns each year. Many are backed by large budgets and a full complement of marketing activities. Consider the cause-marketing activities of Home Depot. In 2006, the home improvement retailer received the Golden Halo Award, given each year by the Cause Marketing Forum to one business for its leadership and outstanding efforts in the field of cause marketing. Here's just one example of Home ~ e h o t j smany causermarketing initiatives: Home Depot is a founding sponsor of KaBoom!, a nonprofit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every.child in America through the construction of community playgrounds around the nation. Home Depot provides financial support, materials, and volunteers in an ongoing effort to help KaBoom! accomplish this mission. For example, last year, Home Depot announced that it would work with KaBoom! to create and refurbish 1,000 playspaces in 1,000 days, a commitment of $25 million and one million volunteer hours. Home Depot also works with its suppliers to develop cause-marketing initiatives that support KaBoom!. It recently partnered with Swing-N-Slide, a do-it-yourself backyard play system producer, to raise money by conkibuting $30 to KaBoom! for each Brookview No-Cut backyard playground kit sold at Home Depot. Swing-N-Slide also released a special edition of its Racing Roadster toddler swing in Home Depot orange. Home Depot donates 5 percent of the retail price of each Racing Roadster swing to KaBoom!. E3 Cause-related marketing: Home Depot links with KaBoom! to "create a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America." Supporting KaBoom! helps Home Depot to build stronger relationships with customers by giving back to the communities its stores serve.

.

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers Such efforts "will help KaBoom! and Home Depot bring the gift of play to countless communities nationwide," says KaBoom!'~CEO. They will also help Home Depot to build closer relationships with consumers in the communities that its stores serve.41 Cause-related marketing has stirred some controversy. Critics worry that cause-related marketing is more a strategy for selling than a strategy for giving-that "cause-related" marketing is really "cause-exploitative" marketing. Thus, companies using cause-related marketing might find themselves walking a fine line between increased sales and an improved image, and facing charges of exploitation. However, if handled well, cause-related marketing can greatly benefit both the company and the cause. The company gains an effective marketing tool while building a more positive public image. The charitable organization or cause gains greater visibility and important new sources of funding. Spending on cause-related marketing has skyrocketed from only $120 million in 1990 to more than 1.1 billion last year.42

Cultural environment Institutions and other forces that affect society's basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors.

The cultural environment is made up of institutions and other forces that affect a society's basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. People grow up in a particular society that shapes their basic beliefs and values. They absorb a worldview that defines their relationships with others. The following cultural characteristics can affect marketing decision making.

old many beliefs and values. Their core beliefs and values have a or example, most Americans ied, giving to charity, and being honest. These beliefs shape more specific attitudes and behaviors on from parents to children and are found in everyday life. CO& beliefs and values are reinforced by schools, churches, businesses, and governments. ~ e c o n d & ybeliefs and values are . Believing in marriage is a core belief; believing that people should ge is a secondary belief. Marketers have some chance of changing secondary values but little chance of changing core values. For example, family-planning marketers could argue more effectively that people should get married later in life than that they should not get married at all.

Although core values are fairly persistent, cultural swings do take place. Consider the impact of popular music groups, movie personalities, and other celebrities on young people's hairstyling and clothing norms. Marketers want to predict cultural shifts in order to spot new opportunities or threats. Several firms offer "futures" forecasts in this connection. For example, the Yankelovich Monitor has tracked consumer value trends for years. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, it looked back to capture lessons from the past decade that might offer insight into the 2 0 0 0 s . ~ Yankelovich ~ maintains that the "decade drivers" for the 2000s will primarily come from the baby boomers and Generation Xers. The baby boomers will be driven by four factors in the 2000s: "adventure" (fueled by a sense of youthfulness), "smarts" (fueled by a sense of empowerment and willingness to accept change), "intergenerational support" (caring for younger and older, often in nontraditional arrangements), and "retreading" (embracing early retirement with a second career or phase of their work life). Gen Xers will be driven by three factors: "redefining the good life" (being highly motivated to improve their economic well-being and remain in control), "new rituals" (returning to traditional values but with a tolerant mind-set and active lifestyle), and "cutting and pasting" (balancing work, play, sleep, family, and other aspects of their lives). The major cultural values of a society are expressed in people's views of themselves and others, as well as in their views of organizations, society, nature, and the universe. People vary in their emphasis on serving themselves versus serving others. Some people seek personal pleasure, wanting fun, change, and escape. Others seek self-realization through religion, recreatioa, or the avid pursuit of careers or other life goals. People use products, .brands, and services as a means of self-expression, and they buy products and services that match their views of themselves. The Yankelovich Monitor identifies several consumer segments whose purchases are motivated by self-views. Here are two examples:44

Chapter 3 The Marketing Environment Do-It-Yourselfers-Recent Movers. Embodying the whole do-it-yourself attitude, these active consumers not only tackle home improvement projects on their own, but they also view the experience as a form of self-expression. They view their homes as their havens, especially when it's time to kick back and relax. Undertaking decorating, remodeling, and auto maintenance projects to save money and have fun, Do-ItYourselfers view their projects as personal victories over the high-priced marketplace. Mostly Gen-X families with children at home, these consumers also enjoy playing board and card games and renting movies. As recent movers, they're actively spending to turn their new home into a castle. Adventurers. These adventuresome individuals rarely follow a single path or do the same thing twice. These folks view the experience as far more exciting than the entertainment value. Although they may be appreciative of the arts (including movies, museums, photography, and music), they are more likely to engage in activities most think are too dangerous, and they like to view themselves doing things others wouldn't dare to do.

Marketers can target their products and services based on such self-views. For example, MasterCard targets Adventurers who might want to use their credits cards to quickly set up the experience of a lifetime. It tells these consumers, "There are some things in life that money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."

In past decades, observers have noted several shifts in people's attitudes toward others. Recently, for example, some trend trackers have seen a new wave of "cocooning," in which people are going out less with others and staying home more to enjoy the creature comforts of home and hearth. Nearly half of major league baseball's 30 clubs are luring smaller crowds this year. Empty seats aren't just a baseball phenomenon. Rock concert attendance was off 12 percent. Entertainment promoters blame everything from unseasonable weather to high gas prices for the lousy attendance numbers. . . . But industry watchers alao believe shifting consumer behavior is at work: Call it Cocooning in the Digital Age. With DVD players in most homes, broadband connections proliferating, scores of new video game titles being released each year, and nearly 400 cable channels, consumers can be endlessly entertained right i n their own living room-or home theater. Add in the high costs and bother of going out, and more and more people are trading the bleachers for the couch.45

entertain more often, th home industry analyst. People are adding bigger decks with fancy gas-ready barbeques, outdoor Jacuzzis, and other amenities that make the old house "home, sweet home" for family and friends.46

he late 1980s saw a sharp decrease in confidence in and loyalty toward America's business and political organizations and institutions. In the workplace, there has been an overall decline in organizational loyalty. During the 1990s, waves of company downsizings bred cynicism and distrust. And in this decade, corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco; record-breaking profits for big oil companies during a time of all-time high prices at the pump; and other questionable activities have resulted in a further loss of confidence in big find new ways to win consumer and employee confidence. People varv in their attitudes toward their society; patriots

ever, following the September 11th terror& attacks and the Iraq war. For example, the summer following the start of the Iraq war saw a surge of pumped-up Americans visiting U.S. historic sites, ranging from the Washington, D.C. monuments, Mount Rushmore, the Gettysburg

88

Part 2 Understanding t h e Marketplace and Consumers

battlefield, and the USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") to Pearl Harbor and the Alamo. Following these peak periods, patriotism in the United States still remains high. A recent global survey on "national pride" found that Americans ranked number one among the 34 democracies polled.47 Marketers respond with patriotic products and promotions, offering everything from floral bouquets to clothing with patriotic themes.-Although most of these marketing efforts are tasteful and well received, waving the red, white, and blue can prove tricky. Except in cases where companies tie product sales to charitable contributions, such flag-waving promotions can be viewed as attempts to cash in on triumph or tragedy. Marketers must take care when responding to such strong national emotions. . People vary in their attitudes toward the natural world. Some feel ruled by it, others feel in harmony with it, and still others seek to master it. A long-term trend has been people's growing mastery over nature through technology and the belief that nature is bountiful. More recently, however, people have recognized that nature is finite and fragile, that it can be destroyed or spoiled by human activities. This renewed love of things natural has created a 63-million-person "lifestyles of health and sustainability" (LOHAS) market, consumers who seek out everything from natural, organic, and nutritional products to fuel-efficient cars and alternative medicine. In the words of one such consumer:48 I am not an early adopter, a fast follower, or a mass-market stampeder. But I am a gas-conscious driver. So that's why I was standing in a Toyota dealership . . . this week, the latest person to check out a hybrid car. Who needs $40 fill-ups? After tooling around in three different hybrid car brands-Toyota, Honda and a Ford-I thought: How cool could this be? Saving gas money and doing well by the environment. Turns out there's a whole trend-watchers' classification for people who think like that: LOHAS. Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. Buy a hybrid. Shop at places like Whole Foods. Pick u p the Seventh Generation paper towels at Albertsons. No skin off our noses. Conscientious shopping, with no sacrifice or hippie stigma.

Riding the trend towards a l l things natural, Earthbound Farm has grown t o become the world's largest producer of organic salads, fruits, and vegetables, with i t s product i n 80 percent o f America's supermarkets.

Business has responded by offering more products and services catering to such interests. For example, food producers have found fastgrowing markets for natural and organic foods. Consider Earthbound Farm, a company that grows and sells organic produce. It started in 1984 as a 2.5-acre raspberry farm in California's Carmel Valley. Founders Drew and Myra Goodman wanted to do the right thing by farming the land organically and producing food they'd feel good about serving to their family, friends, and neighbors. Today, Earthbound Farm has grown to become the world's largest producer of organic vegetables, with 30,000 acres under plow, annual sales of $278 million, and products avajlable in 80 percent of America's supermarkets. In total, the will exceed $15.5 billion in sales this year, a 325 percent increase since 1997. Niche marketers, such as Whole Foods Market, have sprung up to serve this market, and traditional food chains such as Kroger and Safeway have added separate natural and organic food sections. Even pet owners are joining the movement as they

Chapter 3 The Marketing Environment

89

become more aware of what goes into Fido's food. Almost every major pet food brand now offers several types of natural foods.49 Finally, people vary in their beliefs about the origin of the universe and their place in it. Although most Americans practice religion, religious conviction and practice have been dropping off gradually through the years. Some futurists, however, have noted a renewed interest in spirituality, perhaps as a part of a broader search for a new inner purpose. People have been moving away from materialism and dog-eat-dog arnbition to seek more permanent values-family, community, earth, faith-and a more certain grasp of right and wrong. "Americans are on a spiritual journey, increasingly concerned with the meaning of life and issues of the soul and spirit," observes one expert. People say "they are increasingly looking to religion-Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and others-as a source of comfort in a chaotic world." This new spiritualism affects consumers in everything from the television shows they watch and the books they read to the products and services they buy. "Since consumers don't park their beliefs and values on the bench outside the marketplace," adds the expert, "they are bringing this awareness to the brands they buy. Tapping into this heightened sensitivity presents a unique marketing opportunity for brands.'150

Someone once observed, "There are three kinds of companies: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what's happened."51 Many companies view the marketing environment as an uncontrollable element to which they must react and adapt. They passively accept the marketing environment and do not try to change it. They analyze the environments! forces and design strategies that will help the company avoid the threats and take advantage of the opportunities the environment provides. Other companies take a proactive stance toward the marketing environment. Rather than

advertorials (ads expressing editorial points of view) to shape public opinion. They press lawsuits and file complaints with regulators to keep competitors in line, and they form contractual agreements to better control their distribution channels. By taking action, companies can often overcome seemingly uncontrollable environmental events. For example, whereas some companies view the ceaseless online rumor mill as something over which they have no control, others work proactively to prevent or counter negative word of mouth:52 One e-mail recently circulating in Washington, D.C said that a former government lawyer knew a guy whose dog had to be put to sleep because he walked on a floor cleaned with Procter & Gamble's Swiffer WetJet, licked his paws and developed liver disease. Although the claim was proved false by toxicologists, it has been neither quick nor easy for P&Gto squelch the story. But P&G learned long ago that it was best to face a false rumor head-on. Years before, P&G endured a nasty rumor that the stars-and-moon trademark the company then displayed on its packaging was linked with Satanism. The rumor was disseminated through fliers and, much later, e-mails. At one point, fliers even claimed that P&G officials had appeared on TV talk shows confirming the rumor. Rather than letting the rumor lie, P&G reacted strongly by soliciting support from a range of religious leaders as well as from its employees, who worked to convince members of their own churches that the rumors were false. It publicized letters from the TV networks saying that no P&G executives had appeared on the TV shows. And once P&G identified people it said had spread-the rumor-some of whom it says worked for competitors-it pressed charges to get them to confess and stop distributing the information. Some of them did confess, and litigation is still pending against others. Marketing management cannot always control .environmental forces. In many cases, .it must settle for simply watching and reacting to the environment. For example, a company 1

90

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

In this chapter and the next two chapters, you'll examine the environments of marketing and how companies analyze these environments to better understand the marketplace and consumers. Companies must constantly watch and manage the marketingenvironmentin order to seek opportunities and ward off threats. The marketing environment consists of all the actors and forces influencing the company's ability to transact business effectively with its target market.

sumer concern for value and shifting consumer spending patterns. Today's squeezed consumers are seeking greater value-just the right combination of good quality and service at a fair price. The distribution of income also is shifting. The rich have grown richer, the middle class has shrunk, and the poor have remained poor, leading to a two-tiered market. Many companies now tailor their marketing offers to two different markets-the affluent and the less affluent.

1. Describe the environmental forces that affect the company's ability to serve its customers. The company's microenvironment consists of other actors close to the company that combine to form the company's value delivery network or that affect its ability to serve its customers. It includes the company's internal environment-its several departments and management levels-as it influences marketing decision making. Marketingchannel firms--suppliers and marketing intermediaries, including resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies, and financial intermediaries-cooperate to create customer value. Five types of customer markets include consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets. Competitors vie with the company in an effort to serve customers better. Finally, various publics have an actual or potential interest in or impact on the company's ability to meet its objectives. The macroenvironment consists of larger societal forces that affect the entire microenvironment.The six forces making up the company's macroenvironmentinclude demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, and cultural forces. These forces shape opportunities and pose threats to the company.

3. Identify the major trends in the firm's natural and technological environments. The natural environment shows three major trends: shortages of certain raw materials, higher pollution levels, and more government intervention in natural resource management. Environmental concerns create marketing opportunitiesfor alert companies. The technological environment creates both opportunities and challenges. Companies that fail to keep up with technological change will miss out on new product and marketing opportunities.

Explain how changes in the demographic and economic environments affect marketing decisions. Demography is the study of the characteristics of human populations. Today's demographic environment shows a changing age structure, shifting family profiles, geographic population shifts, a better-educated and more white-collar population, and increasing diversity. The economic environment consists of factors that affect buying power and patterns. The economic environment is characterized by more con-

4. Explain the key changes in the political and cultural environments. The political environment consists of laws, agencies, and groups that influence or limit marketing actions. The political environment has undergone three changes that affect marketing worldwide: increasing legislation regulating business, strong government agency enforcement, and greater emphasis on ethics and socially responsible actions. The cultural environment is made up of institutions and forces that affect a society's values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors. The environment shows trends toward digital "cocooning," a lessening trust of institutions, increasing patriotism, greater appreciation for nature, a new spiritualism, and the search for more meaningful and enduring values. 5. Discuss how companies can react to the marketing environment. Companies can passively accept the marketing environment as an uncontrollable element to which they must adapt, avoiding threats and taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. Or they can take a proactive stance, working to change the environment rather than simply reacting to it. Whenever possible, companies should try to be proactive rather than reactive.

eviewing the Baby boomers 69 Cultural environment 86 Demography 68 Economic environment 77

Engel's laws 78 Generation X 70 Generation Y 71 Macroenvironment 64

1. Assume you are a marketing manager for an automobile company. Your job is to reposition an SUV model that was once identified as a "fuel guzzler." The model now comes with a superefficient, nonpolluting hybrid engine. Which of the seven types of publics discussed in the chapter would have the greatest impact on your plans to the more fuel-efficient model? 2. What leading demographic factors must an Internet like AOL consider when marketing its products?Why is each factor so important to AOL? 3. Discuss the primary reasons why a company would hire a lobbyist in Washington D.C. Would it make sense for the same company to also hire lobbyists at the state level?Why?

Marketing environment 64 Marketing intermediaries 65 Microenvironment 64 Natural environment 79

Political environment 82 Public 67 Technological environment 80

4. Is it a certainty that a company will lose out on new opportunities if it does not keep up with new technology? Explain. Can you think of an industry segment where technology may not play an important role? 5. What can a mobile phones marketer do to take a more proactive approach to the changes in the marketing environment? Discuss specific forces, including macroenvironmental and microenvironmental forces. 6. Much of the US. culture is based on products from Hollywood,

including movies and television shows. Choose a current toprated television show and explain how it might affect the cultural , environment.

Chapter 3

1. Go to Shonenjump.com and you will see a Web site devoted to Japanese Anime and Manga. In fact, these products are gaining in popularity in the U.S. market. What environmental forces are involved in the increased demand for this Japanese entertainment?

The Marketing Environment

91

how smaller companies with more limited resources can implement successful cause-related marketing efforts. How can such organizations help the charities with which they partner while successfully promoting their own products and services?

2. Most well-known cause-related marketing campaigns are launched by companies with substantial resources. In a small group, discuss

Television is hitting the small screen-the mobile phones that more than 80 percent of adults now carry. Networks are now producing "mobisodes," two-minute episodes produced exclusively for mobile phones. Services such as Verizon's Vcast let you watch TV or stream content for a monthly fee. Who will subscribe to this? Certainly the younger segment of the Generation Y demographic-the growing 57 percent of US. teens, ages 13 to 17 years, who now own mobile phones. Although this is below the percentage of all adults owning mobile phones, this group displays the most intense connectivityto their phones and the most interest in new features.

1. Explain why younger Gen Yers might be more likely to adapt new mobile phone technologies as compared to other demographic groups. 2. What other macroenvironmental and microenvironmental forces might affect the growth of mobile TV? 3. How can other marketers use mobile marketing to communicate with and promote to consumers?

In February, 2005, R.J. Reynolds began a promotion that included directmail pieces to young adults on their birthdays. The campaign, entitled "Drinks on Us," included a birthday greeting as well as a set of drink coasters that included recipes for many drinks. The drink recipes, which were for mixed drinks of high alcohol content, included many distiller brands such as Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, and Finlandia Vodka. With the recipe on one side of the coaster, the flip side included a tag line such as "Go 'ti1 Daybreak, and Make Sure You're sittin:" Shortly after its release, the promotion came under attack from several attorney generals,

public advocacy groups, and the alcohol distillers themselves. The attorney generals and advocacy groups said the promotion endorsed heavy drinking. The distillers were angry because their brands were used without permission. In addition, the distillers argued that the promotion violates the alcohol industry advertisingcode, which prohibits marketingthat encourages excessive drinking.

Understanding consumers and their needs can be a challenge. As the American population diversifies, and as consumers redefine their values and preferences, marketers work to provide relevant products and services that meet consumers' changing needs and wants. For American Express, keeping up with environmental shifts translates into creating new marketing offers. American Express issued its first charge card in 1958. Within five years, it had more than one million cards in use. Eight years later, the company introduced the American Express Gold Card. The company now offers more than 20 consumer cards and 14 smallbusiness cards, in addition to its customizable corporate cards. Some cards target very specific consumers. For example, the IN:CHICAGO, IN:NYC, and IN:LA cards offer cardholders special perks, including saving 10 percent at select retailers, spas, and nightclubs; skipping lines at some of these cities' hottest clubs; access to select VIP rooms; and sav-

ings on concert tickets. By targeting such specific consumers, American Express builds strong relationshipswith the right customers. After viewing the video featuring American Express, answer the following questions about the marketing environment.

1. What prominent environmental forces come into play in this situation? 2. Is this promotion wrong? Should R.J. Reynolds stop the promotion?

1. Visit the American Express Web site (www.americanexpress.com) to learn more about the different cards that American Express offers. Select three of the macroenvironmental forces discussed in the chapter. How do the different card options reflect the changes in those forces? 2. What sections of the Web site reflect American Express's efforts to deal with the various publics in its microenvironment?

3. Is American Express taking a proactive approach to managing its marketing environment?How?

Americans love their cars. In a country where SUVs sell briskly and the biggest sport is stockcar racing, you wouldn't expect a small, hybrid, sluggish vehicle to sell well. Despite such expectations, Honda successfully introduced the Insight in 1999 as a 2000 model. Toyota closely followed Honda's lead, bringing the 2001 Prius to market one year later. Introducing a fuel sipper in a market where vehicle size and horsepower reigned led one Toyota executive to profess, "Frankly, it was one of the biggest crapshoots I've ever been involved in." Considering these issues, it is nothing short of amazing that a mere five years later, the Prius is such a runaway success that Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. President Jim Press has dubbed it "the hottest car we've ever had." Like other hybrids currently available or in development, the Prius (pronounced PREE-us, not PRY-us) combines a gas engine with an electric motor. Different hybrid vehicles employ this combination of power sources in different ways to boost both fuel efficiency and power. The Prius runs on only the electric motor when starting up and under initial acceleration. At roughly 15 mph, the gas engine kicks in. This means that the auto gets power from only the battery at low speeds, and from both the gas engine and electric motor during heavy acceleration. Once up to speed, the gas engine sends power directly to the wheels and, through the generator, to the electric motor or battery. When braking, energy from the slowing wheels-energy that is wasted in a conventional car-is sent back through the electric motor to charge the battery. At a stop, the gas engine shuts off, saving fuel. When starting up and operating at low speeds, the auto does not make noise, which seems eerie to some drivers and to pedestrians who don't hear it coming! The original Prius was a small, cramped compact with a dull design. It had a total of 114 horsepower-70 from its fourcylinder gas engine and 44 &om the electric motor. It went from 0 to 60 in a woeful 14.5 seconds. But it got 42 miles per gallon. Although the second-generation Prius, introduced as a 2004 model, benefited from a modest power increase, the car was still hardly a muscle car. But there were countless other improvements. The sleek, Asian-inspired design was much better looking than the first-generation Prius and came in seven colors. The interior was roomy and practical, .with plenty of rear legroom and gobs of storage space. The new Prius also provided expensive touches typically found only in luxury vehicles. A single push button brought the car to life. A seven-inch energy monitor touch screen displayed fuel consumption, outside temperature, and battery charge level. It also indicated when the car was running on gas, electricity, regenerated energy, or a combination of these. Multiple screens within the monitor also provided controls for air conditioning, audio, and a satellite navigation system. But perhaps the most important improvement was an increase in fuel efficiency to a claimed 60 miles per gallon in city driving. Apparently, consumers liked the improvements. In its inaugural year, the Prius saw moderate sales of just over 15,000

92

Part 2 Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

units-not bad considering Toyota put minimal promotional effort into the new vehicle. But for 2005, more than 107,000 Priuses were sold in the United States alone, making it Toyota's third-bestselling passenger car following the Camry and Corolla. Perhaps more significantly, Toyota announced that as of April, 2006, the Prius had achieved a major milestone, having sold over 500,000 units worldwide. The rapid increase in demand for the Prius has created a rare automotive phenomenon. During a time period when most automotive companies have offered substantial incentives in order to move vehicles, many Toyota dealers have had no problem getting premiums of up to $5,000 over sticker price for the Prius. By June 2004, waiting lists for the Prius stretched to six months or more. At one point, spots on dealers' waiting lists were being auctioned on eBay for $500. By 2006, the Prius had become the "hottest" car in the United States, based on industry metrics of time spent on dealer lots, sales incentives, and average sale price relative to sticker price. In fact, demand for new Priuses is currently so strong, that Kelley Blue Book puts the price of a used 2005 Prius with 20,000 miles at $25,970, more than $4,500 higher than the original sticker price. There are many reasons for the success of the Prius. For starters, Toyota's targeting strategy has been spot-on fiom the beginning. It focused first on early adopters, techies who were attracted by the car's advanced technology. Such buyers not only bought the car, but found ways to modify it by hacking into the Prius's computer system. Soon, owners were sharing their hacking secrets through chat rooms such as Priusenvy.com, boasting such modifications as using the dashboard display screen to play video games, show files from a laptop, watch TV, and look at images taken by a rearview camera. One savvy owner found a way to plug the Prius into a wall socket and boost fuel efficiency to as much as 100 miles per gallon. By 2004, Toyota had skimmed off the market of techies and adopters. It knew that the second-generation Prius needed to appeal to a wider market. Toyota anticipated that environmentally conscious consumers as well as those desiring more fuel efficiency would be drawn to the vehicle. To launch the new Prius, Toyota spent more than $40 million spread over media in consumer-oriented magazines and TV. With the accuracy of a fortune teller, Toyota hit the nail right on the head. In the summer of 2004, gasoline prices began to r i s e g o i n g to over $2 a gallon in some locations. By the summer of 2005, gas prices had skyrocketed to over $3 a gallon. As a result, buyers moved toward smaller SUVs, cars, and hybrids while sales of full-sized SUVs such as the Ford Expedition, Chevy Tahoe, and H m e r H2 fell significantly. In addition to Toyota's effective targeting tactics, various external incentives have helped to spur Prius sales. For example, some states allow single-occupant hybrids in HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes. Some cities, including Albuquerque, Los Angeles, San Jose, and New Haven, provide fiee parking for hybrids. But the biggest incentives contribute real dollars toward the price of the Prius, making it more affordable. Currently, the federal government gives a tax break of up to $3,150. This tax break will expire under the

current rules in 2007, but there are various efforts to extend tax incentives for the Prius and other hybrid vehicles. Some state governments are also getting in the game. West Virginia, New York, and various other states are offering tax breaks over and above any IRS kickbacks. The most generous is Colorado, giving a tax credit of up to $3,434. And if a chunk of money from these two sources isn't enough, employees of certain companies can cash i n for even more. A select few companies are anteing up in order to do their bit for the environment. Eco-hiendly Timberland contributes $3,000 as well as preferred parking spaces. Google and Hyperion Solutions, the California-based software company, each give employees a whopping $5,000 toward hybrids such as the Prius.

Although Honda's Insight was the first to market in the United States, its sales have been miniscule compared to the Prius. Thus, after the 2006 model year, Honda will drop the Insight. And although Toyota's Japanese rival has had much better results with its Civic hybrid, its sales goal of 25,000 units for 2006 is less than one-fourth of the Prius's anticipated sales. The overall category of gas-electric vehicles in the United States appears to be hotter than ever, with unit sales up 140 percent from 2004 to 2005, to a total of 205,749 units. The Prius alone commands over 50 percent of the market and is largely responsible for category growth. It appears that consumers like their green cars very green. Whereas sales of the ultra-high-mileage Prius and Civic have grown significantly each year since their introductions, less efficient (and more expensive) hybrid models such as the Honda Accord, Toyota Highlander; Ford Escape, and Mercury Mariner have had flat or even declining sales. Some analysts believe it is because consumers are doing the math and realizing that even with better fuel efficiency, they may not save money with a hybrid. In fact, a widely publicized report by Consumer Reports revealed that of six hybrid models studied, the Prius and the Civic were the only two to recover the price premium and save consumers money after five years and 75,000 miles. However, although car makers are scaling back on some models, almost every automotive nameplate wants a piece of the growing pie. Ford blames the lack of success with the Escape and Mariner on a boggled promotional effort. With a lofty goal of producing 250,000 hybrids per year by 2010, it plans to put more money into campaigns for its existing models as well as introduce new models. General Motors also has big plans, beginning with the Saturn Vue Greenline, which will have the advantage of a low $2,000 price tag for the hybrid option. GM plans to extend the Saturn hybrid line to almost every vehicle in the lineup. It also plans to introduce hybrids in other divisions, including full-size trucks and SUVs. And while Subaru, Nissan, Hyundai, and Honda are all promoting upcoming hybrid models, Audi, BMW, and numerous others are busy developing hybrid vehicles of their own.

Even with all the activity from these automotive brands, Toyota is currently the clear leader in hybrid sales and will likely be for some time to come. 2006 Prius sales have actually dropped, but only because the company has dedicated production capacity to the 2006 Camry hybrid. The supply limitation has made demand for the Prius stronger than ever. In the past, Toyota Vice Chairman Fujio Cho had asserted that the company would not open a second plant for the production of hybrids, but he has quickly changed his tune. "[Given] the way American consumers have snapped up the [Prius]," he says, "I have been urging the company, almost as a matter of strategy, to produce [it] in the U.S." Given that Toyota plans to offer hybrid versions for all vehicle classes and quadruple worldwide hybrid sales to one million vehicles by 2012, it would seem that Mr. Cho's statement is conservative.

1. What microenvironmental factors affected the introduc-

tion and relaunch of the Toyota Prius? How well has Toyota dealt with these factors? 2. Outline the major macroenvironmental factorsdemographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural-that affected the introduction and relaunch of the Toyota Prius. How well has Toyota dealt with each of these factors? 3. Evaluate Toyota's marketing strategy so far. What has Toyota done well? How might it improve its strategy? 4. GM's marketing director for new ventures, Ken Stewart, says, "If you want to get a lot of hybrids on the road, you put them in vehicles that people are buying now.": This tends to summarize the U.S. automakers' approach to hybrids. Would you agree with Mr. Stewart? Why or why not? Sources: David Kushner, "How to Hack a Hybrid," Business 2.0 Magazine, July 13,2006; "Toyota Prius Reaches Sales Milestone," Car and Driver, June 9 , 2006, accessed online at www.caranddriver.com; Thane Peterson, "Harnessing Hybrid Tax Credits," Business Week, June 8 , 2006, accessed at www.businessweek.corn; Norihiko Shirouzu, "Toyota Seeks to Improve Prius and Plans to Produce Car in U.S.," Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2006, p. A2; Peter Valdes-Dapena, "Mad Market for Used Fuel Sippers," CNNMoney.com,May 18,2006; John D. Stoll a d Gina Chon, "Consumer Drive for Hybrid Autos Is Slowing Down," Wall Streef Journal, April 7 , 2006, p. A2; Matt Naurnan, "Hybrid Sales Growth Slowing,"San Jose Mercury News, April 14, 2006; "Toyota to Offer Hybrids for All Vehicle Classes by 2012," The Wall Street Journal, April 1,2006, accessed at www.wsj.com; Peter Valdes-Dapena,"Toyota Tops Hottest Cars in America," CNNiWoneycom, March 18,2006; David Kiley and David Welch, "lnvasion of the Hybrids," Business Week,January 10, 2006, accessed at www.businessweek.com; "Testing Toyota's Hybrid Car," GP, June 7, 2004; Gary S. Vasilash, "Is Toyota Prius the Most Important 2004 Model?" Motor Trend, November 11, 2003, accessed online at www. motortrend.com.

Chapter 3

The Marketing Environment

93

pLt

..s~~,joachfirst opened its doors in 1941 as a family-owned, leather-goods work shop. Over the next 1 0 years, the company developed i strong following fo ....- its classically styled, high-quality leather handbags and accessories. In those early years, it seemed, Coach didn't need a lot of marketing research tc understand its customers. For most buyers, handbags were largely functional, usec for carrying keys, a wallet, and cosmetics. Women typically bought only two purses 2 year-one for everyday use and one for special occasions. The everyday handba~ lasted a long time and styles changed infrequently. Women didn't waste much timc or energy on their purse-buying decisions. Coach offered basic handbag designs in understated colors, black and brown The classic Coach bag's only ornamentation was a small gold latch and a smal leather tag embossed with the Coach name. Over the years, with their understatec styling and quality image, Coach handbags earned a reputation as classy but "tradi. tional sturdy standbys." Conservative professionals, who liked the look, quality, anc value of Coach's handbags, became the company's loyal core customers. Coach, bl then a unit of Sara Lee Corporation, cruised along comfortably. By the mid-1990s, however, Coach's world had changed dramatically and sale: started to slow. As more and more women entered the workforce, they needed dif. ferent types of bags to carry their work and their laptops. These increasingly influential women fueled the "mass luxury movement." They wanted the designer brand: that only affluent women had been able to afford. And they wanted more stylish anc colorful bags to spruce up the plain fashions of the day. High-end designers such as Prada, Fendi, Gucci, and Chanel were responding tc these trends. According to one analyst, the industry saw "a sharp uptick in demanc for handbags with extra flair, such as bright colors, exotic leathers, and even materi. als such as wool, velvet, and fur." Many of these designer bags sold for more thar $1,000, some for as much as $3,000. By comparison, Coach's traditional style: began to look downright plain. It was time for an extreme makeover. But where to start? To gain a .better understanding of the new handbag buyer, Coach began with marketing research-lots omarketing research. "Coach started thinking like a consumer-products company,' says the analyst, "relentlessly testing the market to see what holes it could fill." Based on extensive marketing research, Coach overhauled its strategy. In the process, it helped engineer a shift in the way women shop for handbags.

[Coach] decided to translate the elite notion of the handbag as a fashion statement into something the average American woman could afford, [dubbing] the strategy "accessible luxury." Coach [nowl creates and markets new kinds of bags to fill what it calls "usage voids," activities that range from weekend getaways to dancing at nightclubs to trips to the grocery store. . . . Known for decades as a sturdy purveyor of conservative, long-lasting handbags, it has [nowl successfully convinced women to buy weekend bags, evening bags, backpacks, satchels, clutches, totes, briefcases, diaper bags, coin purses, duffels, and a minihandbag that doubles as a bagwithin-a-bag ... [Coach nowl updates its collections nearly every month with new colors, fabrics, and sizes. It prices bags lower than luxury designers but high enough for women to buy as a special treat.

/

As a starter, consumer research revealed that even Coach's conservative customers wanted more fashion pizzazz in their handbags. So, in early 2001, the company launched the "Signature" collection, stylish and colorful bags made of leather and fabric and covered in the IeQer C, Coach designers even began to use adjectives such as sexy, fun, sophisticated, playful, grounded, luxurious, and quality driven to describe Coach's customers and the company itself. About that same time, research revealed another "usage void." Women were carrying small Coach cosmetic cases inside their larger handbags to hold essentialssuch as keys, credit cards, and even cell phones-making them easier to find. However, when crammed into larger bags, these smaller cases caused bulges, making the larger bags appear misshapen and bulky. To fill the void, Coach designed a four-inch by six-inch zippered bag with a looped strap, which a woman could either dangle from her wrist or clip inside a larger bag. Coach called the new product the "wristlet" and introduced it at prices as low as $38. In only the first 10 months, women snapped up more than 100,000 wristlets. By 2004, Coach was selling more than a million wristlets a year in 75 styles. Still more research revealed additional usage voids. For example, Coach's consumer researchers learned that women were increasingly interested in nonleather bags. They also faced the problem that customers did most of their handbag shopping only during the holiday season. To fill both voids, the company developed its

96

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers "Hamptons Weekend" line, stylish fabric bags designed for summer weekend use. Unlike competitors' uninspired black nylon or basic canvas bags, the new Coach line featured an easily foldable shape, hot colors, and a durable, water-resistant material befitting a "relaxed-but-sophisticated" lifestyle.The new bags flew off the shelves at Coach's retail stores. Now, Coach thinks that its research points to yet another market void. Researchers noticed that more women are now mixing formal clothing, stilettos, and diamonds with blue jeans and other casual clothes. This suggests an opportunity to get women to use formal accessories-including evening bags-during daylight hours. So Coach has introduced the "Madison" collection, sleek satin or bejeweled versions of its more traditional purses. Ads for the line show a casually dressed woman carrying a Madison bag in daylight, while also carrying a larger, casual tote bag. Coach also plans to offer a line of jewelry and is looking to add fragrances. Thus, Coach watches its customers closely, looking for trends that might suggest new market voids to fill. Last year alone, Coach spent $3 million on marketing research, interviewing 14,000 women about everything from lifestyles to purse styles to strap lengths. According to a Coach executive, everything Coach does is thoroughly "girlfriend tested, down to the last stitch." Such exhaustive marketing research has more than paid for itself. The company's sales, profits, and share prices are now soaring. Coach has achieved double-digit sales and earnings growth every period since spinning off from Sara Lee and going public in 2000. Over the past five years, sales are up over 177 percent and profits have increased sixfold. It looks like investors are going to need bigger purses1

In order to produce superior customer value and satisfaction, companies need information at almost every turn. As the Coach story highlights, good products and marketing programs begin with solid information on consumer needs and wants. Companies also need an abundance of information on competitors, resellers, and other actors and forces in the marketplace. With the recent explosion of information technologies, companies can now generate information in great quantities. For example, Wal-Mart maintains a huge database that can provide deep insights for marketing decisions. A few years ago, as Hurricane Ivan roared toward the Florida coast, reports one observer, the giant retailer "knew exactly what to rush onto the shelves of stores in the hurricane's path-strawberry Pop Tarts. By analyzing years of sales data from just prior to other hurricanes, [Wal-Mart] figured out that shoppers would stock up on Pop Tarts-which don't require refrigeration or cooking. "2 In fact, today's managers often receive too much information. For example, Wal-Mart refreshes sales data from check-out scanners hourly, adding a billion rows of data a day, equivalent to about 96,000 DVD movies. That's a lot of data to analyze. Thus, running out of information is not a problem, but seeing through the "data smog" is. "In this oh-so-overwhelming Information Age," comments one observer, "it's all too easy to be buried, burdened, and burned out by data overload. Despite this data glut, marketers frequently complain that they lack enough information of the right kind. They don't need more information, they need better .-----.. information. And they need to make better use o f ~ i n f o r m a t iAo nthev alreadv have. A former CEO at Unilever once said that if Unilever only knew what it knows, it would double its profits.' The meaning is @ Information overload: "In this oh-so-overwhelminginformation age, it's clear: Many companies sit on rich information but fail all too easy to be buried, burdened, and burned out by data overload." ' j 3

-

r

-

,

.

J

J

Chapter 4

Managing Marketing Information

97

to manage and use it well. Companies must design effective marketing information systems that give managers the right information, in the right form, at the right time to help them make better marketing decisions. Am_arke~ti.ginformtiin system(F-S) consists of people, equipment, and procedures Marketing i n f o m i o n to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to system (MJS) marketing decision makers. Figure 4.1 shows that the MIS begins and ends with information -- Peode,equlpment&dd procedures to g a t h e s ~ r t , ~ users-marketing managers, internal and external partners, and others who need marketing information. First, it interacts with these information users to assess info_rym&&n-_n_e,e.ds. analyze, evaluate, and Next, it&v&_o~s-g+edinfor,m,a$o2 from internal company databases, marketing intelli-distr~b~e-needed~tune~~,-arrd gence activities, and marketing research. Then it helps users to 3nalyze informationto put it accurate informat!o_nnJo_ ____-----.-marketing decis@oJn,a&e~ in the right form for making marketing decisions and managing customer relationships. -*,-,--"-I-.----the marketi Finally, the MIS distributes and helps managers, use it in their ________.decision making.

-

--.-1.

FI1

The marketing information system primarily serves the company's marketing and other managers. However, it may also provide information to external partners, such as suppliers, resellers, or marketing services agencies. For example, Wal-Mart gives key suppliers access to information on customer buying patterns and inventory levels. And Dell creates tailored Premium Pages for large customers, giving them access to product design, order status, and product support and service information. In designing an information system, the company must consider the needs of all of these users. A good marketing information system balances the information-u,s=~~puld & h a v e fea,~_~&~.b~effe;. The company begins by interviewagainst whia,t,,t_he~~;!al&- _n~ed-s,d~~h_a,t_~k ing managers to find out what information they would like. Some managers will ask for whatever information they can get without thinking carefully about what they really need. J's much information too Jiitl_e, Other managers may omit things they ought - --._ .__-_--c-%be a~~hg~m~f.1 to know, or they may not know to ask for some types of information they should have. For example, managers might need to know about a new product that a competitor plans to introduce during the coming year. Because they do not know about the new product, they do not think to ask about it. The MIS must monitor the marketing environment in order to provide decision makers with information they should have to make key marketing decisions. e---

.I

The marketing information system

. _ _ I _ _ -

Marketing managers and other information users

Analysis

Planning

Implementation

Control

-I__--.

Marketing environment

Target markets

Marketing channels

Competitors

Publics

Macroenvironment forces

98

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers Sometimes the company cannot provide the needed information, either because it is available or because -of MIS limitations. For example, a brand manager might want to know how competitors will change their advertising budgets next year and how these changes will affect industry market shares. The information on planned budgets probably is not available. Even if it is, the company's MIS may not be advanced enough to forecast resulting changes in market shares. Finally, ~ ~ & s f ~ & t a i n i n g . ~ ~ ~ s _ s ~ . s t ~ g & g , - ~can ~ mount ~ d e & ~ e r ~ ~ quickly. The company must decide whether the benefits of having additional information are worth the costs of providing it, and both va_lal~&cost are often hard,to assess. By itself, information has no worth; its value comes &om itsIn many cases, additional information will do little to change or improve a manager's d&iS&n, or the costs of the information may exceed the returns from the improved decision. Marketers should not assume that additional information will always be worth obtaining. Rather, they should weigh carefully the costs of getting more information against the benefits resulting from it. -=-____cI--_

* s I .

-

-

Marketers can obtain the needed information from internal data, marketing intelligence, and --marketing research. ------ ."---O I

Internal databases

--Electronic collections of

-- consumer and market

mformation obtamed%oK data sources within the network: --company -___C

P

Many companies build extensive j & e r z a h a ~ s ,electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company network. Marketin--agers can readily- access and work - with - information - ----.Lo in the database to iin_ti-fy-m*ng ~oxp~torti$s,and proble_ks,, plan programs, and evaluate performance. Information in the database can come f r o ~ ~ ~ ? ~ ~ T E ~ 2 c c .,odepartment u n t i n n prepares financial statements and keeps detailed records of sales, costs, and cash flows. Operations reports on production schedules, shipments, and inventories. The marketing department furnishes information on customer transactions, demographics, psychographics, and buying behavior. The customer service department keeps records of customer satisfaction or service problems. The sales force reports on reseller reactions and competitor activities, and marketing channel provide data on point-of-sale transactions. Harnessing such information can provide a powerful competitive advantage. Here is an example of how one company uses its internal database to make better marketing decisions: 5

-

- -

El Internal databases: Pizza Hut can slice and dice its extensive customer database by favorite toppings, what you ordered last, and whether you buy a salad with your cheese and pepperoni pizza, targeting coupon offers to specific households based on past buying behaviors and preferences.

Pizza Hut claims to have the largest fast-food customer database in the world. The database contains detailed customer information data on 40 million U.S. households, gleaned from phone orders, online orders, and pointof-sale transactions at its more than 7,500 restaurants around the nation. The company can slice and dice the data by favorite toppings, what you ordered last, and whether you buy a salad with your cheese and pepperoni pizza. Pizza Hut also tracks in real time what commercials people are watching and responding to. It then uses all this data to enhance customer relationships. For example, it can target coupon offers to specific households based on past buying behaviors and preferences5

Chapter 4

Managing Marketing Information

99

Internal databases usually can be accessed more quickly-and-y,than other information sources, but they also present some problems. Because internal information was often .c o l l e c t & ~ & ~ ~ g - ~ _itumay r~~ be~incomplete ~, or in the wrong form for making marketing decisions. For example, sales and cost data used by the a c m e p a r t m e n t for preparing financial statements must be adapted for use in evaluating the value of specific customer segment, sales force, or channel performance. Data also ages quickly; m n ~ + h l a t ! b a s e c=-rent requires a major effort. In addition, a large company produces mountains of information, which must be well integrated and readily accessible so that managers can find it easily and use it effectively, Managing that much data requires highly sophisticated equipment and techniques.

? A , . -

Marketing intelligence

:__q__-

The svsternaI1CcDllEtZRand

Msketing intellkence is the systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about competitors and developments i n the marketplace. The goal of marketing intelligence is toimprove strategic,dcgion,@n,g, assess and tr-wkcampetitor_s_t~i~s, and

EFvide-~~ly-w~~m~p-p~rt~ti~ss,and~~ats_. and developments in the rnarElng environment.*

Competitive intelligence gathering has grown dramatically as more and more companies are now busily snooping on their competitors. Techniques range hom quizzing the company's own employees and benchmarking competitors' products to researching the Internet, lurking around industry trade shows, and even rooting through rivals' trash bins. Much intelligence can be collected from people*ins_idLe, tJqcompany-executives, engineers and scientists, purchasing agents, and the sales force. The company can also obtain important intelligence information horn swp&e_r&1;.esslm and l a y . c.us_t,om:~.Or it can get good information by ~Er~~4~~mE_t~~~rsSandm0,P~t_oE~ng their publishedjnformatio?. It can buy and analyze competitors' products, monitor their~Eiles,~cKed?fornewmFalents,and examine various types of physical evidence. For example, one company regularly checks out competitors' parking lots-full lots might indicate plenty of work and prosperity; half-full lots might suggest hard times. Some companies have even rifled their competitors' garbage, which is legally considered abandoned property once it leaves the premises. In one elaborate garbage-snatching incident, AirCanada was recently caught rifling through rival WestJet7sdumpsters in efforts to find evidence that WestJet was illegally tapping into Air Canada's computer^.^ In Gother &e, ~ r o c t e r& Gamble admitted to "dumpster diving" at rival Unilever's headquarters. "P&G got its mitts on just about every iota of info there was to be had about Unilever's [hair-care] brands," notes an analyst. However, when news of the questionable tactics reached top P&G managers, they were shocked. They immediately stopped the project and voluntarily set up negotiations with Unilever to right whatever competitive wrongs had been done. Although P&G claims it broke no laws, the company reported that the dumpster raids "violated our strict guidelines regarding our business policies. "7 s p e t i t o r s oftennreveal intelEgexxinf:rmation t h r o u w r . a . n r & ~ p o r t s , business _publications, t r a d e - ~ q h 2 y ~ i t s ,-p~65F -----..-releases, Xiiertisements, and F e b ~ m g e 5The '1nfZrrZ$ is proving to be a vast new source of competitor-supplied information. Using Internet search engines, marketers can search specific Marketing Intelligence: Procter & Gamble admitted to "dumpster diving" at competitor names, events, or trends and see rival Unilevefs Helene Curtis headquarters. When P&Gfstop management Learned what turns up. Moreover, most companies now of the questionable practice, it stopped the project, voluntarily informed Unilever, place volumes of information on their Web sites, and set up talks to right whatever competitive wrongs had been done. providing details to attract customers, partners,

I .

_ * i x -

L -

WI

ll-sa'"-L1----u

0--

. ? P -

100

Part 2 Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

suppliers, investors, or franchisees. This can provide a wealth of useful information about

tito&-s-tratew , m~~k_e_ts,~~new.pr~d~c~., .fac&@, and _o@ey_bappfxn&g,~. .compe Something as simple as a competitor's job postings can be very revealing. For example, a a -

few years back, while poking around on Google's company Web site, Microsoft's Bill Gates came across a help-wanted page describing all of the jobs available at Google. To his surprise, he noted that Google was looking for engineers with backgrounds that had nothing to do with its Web-search business but everything to do with Microsoft's core software businesses. Forewarned that Google might be preparing to become more than just a search engine company, Gates emailed a handful of Microsoft executives, saying, in effect, "We have to watch these guys. It looks like they are building something to compete with us." Notes a marketing intelligence consultant, companies "are often surprised that there's so much out there to know. They're busy with their day-to-day operations and they don't realize how much information can be obtained with a few strategic keystroke^."^ Intelligence seekers can also pore through any of thousands of online databases. Some are free. For example, t h ~ e c ~ i f ~ Exchange a n d Commission'! database provides a huge stockpile of financial information on public competitors, and the U.S. Patent Office and Trademark database reveals patents competitors have filed. And for a fee, companies can sub~ e r -as ~es scribe to any of the more than 3,000 online d a t a b a s e ~ a n d - i n f a r m ~ ~ n ; ~ ~ - h , ssuch Dialog, Hoover's, Datastar, LexisNexis, Dow Jones News Retrieval, ProQuest, and Dun & Bradstreet's Online Access. The intelligence game goes both ways. Facing determined marketing intelligence efforts by competitors, most companies are now & n g t e ~ t o ~r&e_ct&ir-om,info~m_a@~For example, Unilever conducts widespread competitive intelligence training. Employees are taught not just how to collect intelligence information but also how to protect company information hom competitors. According to a former Unilever staffer, "We were even warned that spies from competitors could be posing as drivers at the minicab company we used." Unilever even performs random checks on internal security. Says the former staffer, "At one [internal marketing] conference, we were set up when an actor was employed to infiltrate the group. The idea was to see who spoke to him, how much they told him, and how long it took to realize that no one knew him. He ended up being there for a long time."g The growing use of marketing intelligence raises a number of ethical issues. Although most of the preceding techniques are legal, and some are considered to be shrewdly competitive, some &ay invoGe questionable etkics. Clearly, companies should take advantage of publicly available information. However, they should not stoop to snoop. With all the legitimate intelligence sources now available, a company does not need to break the law or accepted codes of ethics to get good intelligence.

In addition to information about competitor and marketplace happenings, marketers often need fm-mals~_u~&.ofsp&fic situations. For example, Budweiser wants to know what appeals will be most effective in its Super Bowl advertising. Or Samsung wants to know how many and what kinds of people will buy its next-generation plasma televisions. In such situations, marketing intelligence will not provide the detailed information needed. Managers will need marketing researcli'. ~ a r k g i ~ ~ , ~isethe s esystematic ~ h design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization. Companies use marketing research in wide 7'%3~tjr~~i~t~0li??;rexample, marketing research can help marketers understand customer satisfaction and p-yrrhaa.&~havio~ It can help them to asseFs markzt ----.-p o t e n t i a l - ~ = ~ ~ k s l ~ ~ h % ~ ~thq ~ Tg : if 'f ~e~~ ~ ~g~,uer ~ e e & p ~ distribution, ~p20~u~ *------=---=-=and g ~ o ~ n o t i.activities. on Some large companies have their own research dep,-~-Eents~that work with marketing o w Kraft, Citigroup, managers on marketing r e ~ e ~ r o ~ ~ ~~ r o' c tie r&i -Gamble, and other corporate giants handle marketing research. In addition, these companieslike their smaller c&terpafts--frequently hire outside research specialists to c o n d t with management on specific marketing problems and conduct marketing research studies. Sometimes firms simply purchase data collected by outside firms to aid in their decision __Y-=-._Y___ ---* making. The marketing research process has four steps (see Figure 4.2): defining the problem and research objectives, developing the research plan, implementing the research plan, and interpreting and reporting the findings.

-

Marketing research The systematicdzign, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation -facing an organization.

-

.

--u

--

a

_ _ Y _ _ _

-----=,

O

Chapter 4

-2 _=marketing

Managing Marketing Information

101

research process

Marketing managers and resewers must work closely together to define the probl research objectives. The manager best understands the decision for which information is needed; the researcher best understands marketingresearch and how to obtain the information. De•’iningthe problem and research objectives is often th@&dest s t z i n the research process. The manager may &ow that something is wrong, without knowing the specific causes. After the problem has been defined carefully, the manager and researcher must set the research objectives. A marketing research project might have one of $rextmes -of objective% Exaloratorv research r ctohgather preliminary information that will help define The objective of ~ l o r a ~ o ~ r e s e ais --Market.i ng--resea~ h t a g a e r the problem an%suggest hypotheses. The objective of descriptivemesearc~is to describe things, preliminary informatio~;$L such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers who - . will help aefine problems an_d buy the product. he objective of causal research is test hypotheses about cause-and-effect = :-. suggest hypotheses, relationships. For example, woulz a 1 0 p e r c x e c r e a s e in tuition at a private college result in an enrollment increase sufficient to offset the reduced tuition? ~ & a ~ e often-start rs with Descriptive research exploratory research and later follow with descriptive or causal research. Marketing researcfi?~better - The statement of the problem and research objectives guides the entire research process. describe marketing problems, ----___I____-----. * The manager and researcher should put the statement in writing to be certain that they agree situations,or markets, suchon the purpose and expected results of the research. - as the r n - i ~ t e n t i a fl a ~ a

-_

-

-u--

Once the research problems and objectives have been defined, researchers must determine - g i f , ~ ~ n and g present the plan the ~ ~ t t ~ o f m ~ ~ - n e e d g d , . & - v , ~ ~ a , ~ & n _ f _ o ~itefficen;E!y, hyp_othesgab~utc,a>,~_e~and-to management. The research plan outlines sources of existing data and spells out the specific research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans, and instruments that researchers will em3Sat ~ nhsI ps, use to gather new data. Research objectives must be translated into specific information needs. For example, suppose Campbell Soup Company decides to conduct research on how consumers would react to the introduction of new heat-and-go microwavable cups for its Campbell's SpaghettiOs. Such packaging has been successful for Campbell's soups-including its Soup at Hand line of hand-held, shippable soups and its Chunky and Select soup line i n microwavable bowls, dubbed "M'm! M'm! Good! To Go!" The containers would cost more but would allow consumers to heat their SpaghettiOs in a microwave oven and to eat them without using dishes. This research might call for the following specific information:

Causa-1 ~ e ~ ahx c

&kting-wearc-hiatwt

a n _ d , , ~ ~ s ~ i y l ~ ~ h _ a rof~ current ~ ~ i s ~ ~Spaghe c s ttiOs users. The demomaphj~~,g,c~xtpmic, (Busy working couples might find the convenience of the new packaging worth the price; families with children might want to pay less and wash the bowls.) ~gn,~~m~;~,u,s_a~epatternafor SpaghettiOs and related products: how much they eat, where, and when. (The new packaging might be ideal for adults eating lunch on the go, but less convenient for parents feeding lunch to several children.) H & e _ t a i ! ~ L r ~ ~ ~ t t ~ O t h , e e n ~ e p (Failure a ~ k ~ i ntogget . retailer support could hurt sales of the new package.) a J?o~e,c~as;s of .sales _orf b~tbLn_ewWgddc~-egtt~ackages. (Will the new packaging create new sales or simply take sales from the currentop&kaging? Will the package increase Campbell's profits?) Q

I *

Campbell managers will need these and many other types of information to decide whether to introduce the new packaging. The research pian shbuid be presented in a written proposal. A written proposal is espewhen ~ ~ & i & ~ a r cially important when the research project ries it out. The proposal should cover the management problems addressed and the research objectives, the information to be obtained, and the way the results will help management decision making. The proposal also should inclu-t,~~

i~J~~~illc2;i4$32&&&$&2&&g&$i$&;;i ;

.

. . .

i,.: ; i j

i

~'T [ L ( E I- - ~ .:Ri.

:,:.:,:::,

,

.'

.

:

-.-.,.;i

it+* rS.i;tr,l:

- &z:,::; 5 ..y ,,:.*s

.

.

......

***. -

*.tri:

I

. j !

....

Chat

prodact and would lthe l o know ifthere art otl#er products that arc similar. I: 1. : l e l f him therc arb rtrnll~rbut less eflcctlve prnducts madable to Ihe conrumer Tlrts product is the only one Ihal con rcbeve d l Im 1rm8loms. %JUW Ohar I wll !ell tlrm Drue Let him alro %now that we redfir apprrctalb hw cmdtr on the subicrt ~ I I ,candtt helps us undcrrland

s =

. Tracy ,, St'cK

. ,

-

zr.3:

:..:,,:,:-:s:

- i:..r,..:,:i-*=.,

fact, by 2006, companies were spending an estimated 30 percent of their marketing research dollars online, making it the largest single data collection methodology.16 Online research can take many forms. A company can include~~e~io,~a~~e_gnnifssW~~ site and offer incentives for completing it. Or it can use 2-mail,-Web 1ink~,~or~Web~~~o_p-~uj~~ to invite people to answer questions and possibly win a prize. The company can sponsor&:a ro_om-andintroduce questions fcom time to time or conduct live discussions c~~o_n~~ne-.o~,u~ groups. A company can learn about the behavior of online customers by following their click -- streams as they visit the Web site and move to other sites. A company can experiment with different prices, use different headlines, or offer different product features on different Web sites or at different times to learn the relative effectiveness of its offerings. It can float "trial balloons" to quickly test new product concepts. Web research offers some real advantages over traditional surveys and focus groups. The most obvious advantages are-speed-~d20,w-c_osts.Online focus groups require some advance scheduling, but results are pra&cally,instantane&s,17 Looking for better methods of predicting consumer acceptance to potential new products, Pepsi recently turned to Invoke Solutions, an online consumer research company, which maintained several instant-message-style online panels of 80 to 100 people. Using the panels, Pepsi delved into attitudes among Gen Xers toward drinking mineral water. In just a few hours, the beverage marketer was able to gather and process detailed feedback from hundreds of consumers. At first, Pepsi marketers were jazzed that the group liked the idea of high levels of mineral content in water. But after further exchanges with the online panel, Pepsi beverage scientists on the scene squelched higher mineral levels; that would require adding sugar, which consumers didn't want, to make the taste acceptable. Using the online panels, "conclusions that could take three to four months to sort out through regular focus groups . . . got settled in a few hours," says an Invoke executive. Internet research is also relatively ~ _ O B Y = & I I . Participants can dial in for a focus group tra~ml,lodging, &d fadity~cmts,.For surveys, the fcom anywhere i n the world,&m&&ing $tern$ eliminates most ~f~~~p~t,age~-ph?ne,-[rabor,~ and printingc&+ associated with other approaches. As a result, an Internet survey may be only 1.0 to-20 percent as expensive as mail, telephone, or personal surveys. Moreove~_~~~~@~~,s~z&~~1.jttle_ i~fllen~~e_e_o,n,co~fs. Once the

108

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

questionnaire is set up, there's little difference in cost between 10 and 10,000 respondents on the Web. , W n e surveysand f o m g r o are ~ ~also ~ excellent for reaching the_-h-grdZ=tos~h-the d a & often-elusivew g d u c a _ f _ e d a m s .It's also good for reaching working mothers and other people who lead busy lives. They respond to it in their own space and at their own convenience. The Internet also works well for bringing together people from different parts of the country, especially those in higher-income groups who can't spare the time to travel to a central site. Using the Internet to conduct marketing research does have some drawbacks. For one, restricted -Internet access canmakeyt difficult to get a broad cross section of Americans. with Internet household penetration now at 64 percent in the United States, this is less of a problem. Another major problem is controlling who's in the sample. Without see. -. ing respondents, it's difficult tO&ow who they really are. Even when you reach the right respondents, online surveys and focus groups can lack the dynamics of more personal amroaches. he online world is devoid of the body language, -- eye contact, ----==----_- and direct personal interactions found in..-=--traditionaTfoES-@Ep -" -- research. And the Internet forstt-it;n'-n'-n?iiig, typed commentary and online "emoticons" marks that express emotion, such as :-) to signify happiness)-greatly restricts Increasingly, companies are moving their research onto the Web. According to r e s ~--.,"*."---,=--.develop optimal advertising 1

-

2

112

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

The question of how best to analyze and use individual customer data presents special problems. Most companies are awash in information about their customers. In fact, smart companies capture information at every possible customer tpuch point. These touch points include customer-purchases, sales force contacts, s~rvic~-g-pport calls, Web site visits, satisfact w s u r v e y s , d i t m r a c t f o n s , market researchY-ts ?ZiEiEF* b &ween the cus~~%E~ZiZd-fh~~anZi~-The trouble is that this inform~tionis usually scattered - ,_--.- --~ . l y ~ o ~c q ~5 a- n +m ~. It is buried deep in the separate databases and records of different company departments. To overcome such problems, many companies are now turning to customer relationship manCustomer relationship C-m-R MI agement (CRM) to manage detailed information about i n d i v i d u i 1 ~ ~ G i s m ~ ---MZi@ing detailed m m a g e T ~ t T m T"touch points" in order to maximize customer loyalty. CRM first burst onto the scene in the early 2000s. Many companies rushed in, impleinformation about individuaL cusforners and carefully menting overly ambitious CRM programs that produced disappointing results and many -"managing customer "touc_h failures. More recently, however, companies are moving ahead more cautiously and implepoints in order to rnaxirnlze menting CRM systems that really work. A recent study by Gartner Group found that 60 percustomer loyalty. cent of the businesses surveyed intend to adopt or expand their CRM usage over the next two years. By 2007, U.S. companies will spend an estimated $73.8 billion on CRM systems from companies such as Oracle, Microsoft, and SAS.~O CRM consists of_so;~histicated-software and_-intn~y~~&~~s. that integrate customer information from all sources, analyze it in depth, and apply the results to build stronger customer relationships. CRM integrates everything that a company's sales, service, and marketing teams know about individual customers to provide-a 360-degreevA:ww of th_e-customer relationship. --CRM analysts develop datg A w a r e h o eand techniques to use sophisticated & a t c z , m z ~ ~ unearth the riches hidden i n customer data. A d - - - w ~ e & ~is_" e ._a elecgo&c of finej-y-de).ed c u s t ~ r n e r i n f o r ~ g ~ n _-database =-- _."__,--$at needs to be&fted -&xough_€qrggm,s. The purposeof a ?&a warehouse is not just to gather information, but to puUili&ge& -,--

--

----.=

*

.-.----

1. At which step of the consumer behavior decision process does collaborative filtering most help the consumer?

2q What are the drawbacks of collaborative filtering? 3- H O W C O U Y ]O~ U

~ C O ~use Z ~this

technologyto help its consumers?

Marketing to "tweens," 9-12-year-old consumers, has increased dramatically in recent years. This age group, which once purchased toys, is now more involved in electronics, clothing, and the media. In general, they aspire to be more like their older teen counterparts. Most companies market responsibly to this group, but there is concern that some companies prey on the immature nature of tweens. Abercrombie and Fitch, as well as Victoria's Secret have been criticized as having products, a retail atmosphere, and advertisements that are targeted to tweens as well as teens and young adults. To help parents and tweens understand marketing, PBS has set up an area of its Web site called "Don't Buy It"

(http://pbskids.orgldontbuyit). The site covers topics such as food advertising tricks, secrets of a magazine cover model, and how to see through the sales pitch.

Chances are that when you hear the term socially responsiblebusiness, a handful of companies leap to mind, companies such as Ben &Jerry's and The Body Shop. Although these companies and their founders led the revolution for socially responsible business, a new generation of activist entrepreneurs has now taken up the reins. Today, socially responsible businesses and their founders not only have a passion to do good, they also have the know-how to connect with consumers. For example, Wild Planet markets high-quality, nonsexist, nonviolent toys that encourage kids to be imaginative and creative and to explore the world around them. But Wild Planet sells more than just toys. It sells positive play experiences. To better understand those experiences, the company conducts a tremendous amount of consumer research to delve into consumer buyer behavior. Wild Planet even created a Toy Opinion

Panel to evaluate current products and develop new product ideas. The panel helps Wild Planet to understand why parents and kids buy the toys they buy. After viewing the video featuring Wild Planet, answer the following questions about consumer buyer behavior.

1. Why is this age group considered so vulnerable as consumers? 2. Visit pbskids.org/dontbuyit and comment on the effectiveness of this site. 3. Can you think of any other products or services that are targeted to this younger group with inappropriate or dangerous products or messages?

1. Which of the four sets of factors affecting consumer behavior do you believe most strongly affect consumers' choices to buy toys from Wild Planet?

2. What demographic segment of consumers is Wild Planet targeting? 3. Visit the Wild Planet Web site at www.wildplanet.com to learn more about the company. How does the Web site help consumers through the buyer decision process?

ention UPS, and most people envision one of those familiar brown trucks with a friendly driver, rumbling around their neighborhood dropping off parcels. That makes sense. The company's 88,000 brown-clad drivers deliver more than 3.75 billion packages annually, an average of 14.8 million each day. For most of us, seeing a brown UPS truck evokes fond memories of past package deliveries. If you close your eyes and listen, you can probably imagine the sound of the UPS truck pulling up in front of your home. Even the company's brown color has come to mean something special to customers. "We've been referred to for years as Big Brown," says a UPS marketing executive. "People love our drivers, they love our brown trucks, they love everything we do." Thus was born UPS's current "What Can Brown Do for You?" advertising theme. For most residential customers, the answer to the question "What can Brown do for you?" is pretty simple: "Deliver my package as quickly as possible." But most of UPS's revenues come not from the residential customers who receive the packages, but from the business customers who send them. And for these business customers, UPS does more than just get Grandma's holiday package there on time. Whereas residential consumers might look to "Brown" simply for fast, friendly, lowcost package delivery, business customers usually have much more complex needs. For businesses, package delivery is just part of a much more complex logistics process that involves purchase orders, inventory, order status checks, invoices, payments, returned merchandise, and fleets of delivery vehicles. Beyond the physical package flow, companies must also handle the accompanying information and money flows. They need'3mely information about packages-what's in them, where they're currently located, to whom they are going, when they will get there, how much has been paid, and how much is owed. UPS knows that for many companies, all these work-a-day logistical concerns can be a nightmare. Moreover, most companies don't see these activities as strategic competencies that provide competitive advantage. That's where Big Brown comes in. These are exactly the things that UPS does best. Over the years, UPS has grown to become much more than a neighborhood small package delivery service. It is now a $43 billion corporate giant providing a broad range of logistics solutions. UPS handles the logistics, allowing customers to focus on what they do best. It offers everything from ground and air package distribution, freight delivery (air, ocean, rail, and road), and mail services to inventory management, thirdparty logistics, international trade management, logistics management software and e-commerce solutions, and even financing. If it has to do with logistics, at home or

abroad, UPS can probably do it better than anyone else can. UPS has the resources to handle the logistics needs of just about any size business. It employs 407,000 people, some 92,000 vehicles (package cars, vans, tractors, and motorcycles), 600 aircraft, and about 1,800 warehouse facilities in 200 countries. UPS now moves an astounding 6 percent of the gross domestic product in the United States, links 1.8 million sellers with 6.1 million buyers every day, and processes more than 460 million electronic transactions every week. It serves 90 percent of the world population and 99 percent of businesses in the Fortune 1000. UPS invests $1 billion a year in information technology to support its highly synchronized, by-the-clock logistics services and to provide customers with information at every point in the process. Beyond moving their packages

to or from 377 international destinations. For example, although most residential customers don't need next-day air service to or from China, many businesses do seek help shipping to and from the burgeoning Asian manufacturing zones. UPS helps ensure the timely flow of crucial business documents, prototypes, high-value goods (such as semiconductors), and emergency repair parts that wing their way across the Pacific every day. UPS even offers expedited U.S. Customs services, with fast inspection and clearance processes that help get goods into the country quickly. "When you're trading internationally, you're entire investment could be hanging on a single clause," says one UPS ad. "We don't get you over oceans, mountains, and deserts only to be delayed by Chapter 3, Part 319, Regulation 40-2 of CFR Title 7. . . . Leave the burden of global compliance to UPS." In addition to shipping and receiving packages, UPS provides a wide range of financial services for its business customers. For example, its UPS Capital division will handle client's accounts receivable-UPS shippers can choose to be reimbursed immediately and have UPS collect payment from the recipient. Other financial services include credit cards for small businesses and programs to fund inventory, equipment leasing, and asset financing. UPS even bought a bank to underpin UPS Capital's operations.

160

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers At a deeper level, UPS can provide the advice and technical resources needed to help business customers large and small improve their own logistics operations. UPS Consulting advises companies on redesigning logistics systems to align them better with business strategies. UPS Supply Chain Solutions helps customers to synchronize the flow of goods, funds, and information up and down their supply chains. UPS Logistics Technologies supplies software that improves customers' distribution efficiency, including street-level route optimization, territory planning, mobile delivery execution, realtime wireless dispatch, and GPS tracking. So, what can Brown do for you? As it turns out, the answer depends on who you are. For its residential consumers, UPS uses those familiar chugging brown trucks to provide simple and efficient package pickup and delivery services. But in its business-to-business markets, it develops deeper and more involved customer relationships. The company's "What Can Brown Do for You?" ads feature a variety of business professionals discussing how UPS'S broad range of services makes their jobs easier. But such ad promises have little meaning if not reinforced by actions. Says former UPS CEO Jim Kelly, "A brand can be very hollow and lifeless . . . if the people and the organization . . . are not 100 percent dedicated to living out the brand promise every day." For UPS, that means that employees around the world must do more than just deliver packages from point A to point B for their business customers. They must roll up their sleeves and work hand in hand with customers to help solve their complex logistics problems. More than just providing shipping services, they must become strategic logistics pat3ners.l

Business buyer behavior The buying behavior of the organizations that buy goods and services for use in the production of other products and services or for the purpose of reselling or renting them to others at a profit.

,

-'

Business buying process The decision process by which business buyers determine which products and services their organizations need lo purchase, and then find, evaluate, and choose among alternative suppliers and brands. '

In one way or another, most large companies sell to other organizations. Companies such as DuPont, Boeing, IBM, Caterpillar, and countless other firms, sell most of their products to other businesses. Even large consumer products companies, which make products used by final consumers, must first sell their products to other businesses. For example, General Mills makes many familiar consumer brands-Big G cereals (Cheerios, Wheaties, Total, Golden Grahams); baking products (Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Gold Medal flour), snacks (Nature Valley, Chex Mix, Pop Secret); Yoplait Yogurt; Haagen-Dazs ice cream, and others. But to sell these products to consumers, General Mills must first sell them to its wholesaler and retailer customers, who in turn serve the consumer market. Business buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of the organizations that buy goods and services for use in the production of other products and services that are sold, rented, or supplied to others. It also includes the behavior of retailing and wholesaling firms that acquire goods to resell or rent them to others at a profit. In the business buying process, business buyers determine which products and services their organizations need to purchase and then find, evaluate, and choose among alternative suppliers and brands. Business-to-business (B-to-B) marketers must do their best to understand business markets and business buyer behavior. Then, like businesses that sell to final buyers, they must build profitable relationships with business customers by creating superior customer value.

The business market is huge. In fact, business markets involve far more dollars and items than do consumer markets. For example, think about the large number of business transactions involved in the production and sale of a single set of Goodyear tires. Various suppliers sell Goodyear the rubber, steel, equipment, and other goods that it needs to produce the tires. Goodyear then sells the finished tires to retailers, who in turn sell them to consumers. Thus, -many sets of business purchases were made for only one set of consumer purchases. ,Inaddition, Goodyear sells tires as original equipment to manufacturers who install them on new vehicles, and as replacement tires to companies that maintain their own fleets of company cars, trucks, buses, or other vehicles. In some ways, business markets are similar to consumer markets. Both involve people who assume buying roles and make purchase decisions to satisfy needs. However, business markets

Chapter 6

Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

361

differ in many ways from consumer markets. The main differences, shown in Table 6.1, are in market structure and demand, the nature of the buying unit, and the types of decisions and the decision process involved.

I@srke& Sbr7~4et1areand Demand i

Derived demand Business demand that ultimately comes from (derives from) the dehand for consumer goods.

Characteristics of Business Markets

The business marketer normally deals with%farfewerbut far larger buyers $an the consumer marketer does. Even in large business markets, a few buyers often account for most of the purchasing. For example, when Goodyear sells replacement tires to final consumers, its potential market includes the owners of the millions of cars currently in use in the United States and around the world. But Goodyear's fate in the business market depends on getting orders from one of only a handful of large automakers. Similarly, Black & Decker sells its power tools and outdoor equipment to tens of millions of consumers worldwide. However, it must sell these products through three huge retail customers-Home Depot, Lowe's, and Wal-Mart-which combined account for more than half its sales. Business markets are also more geographically concentrated. More than half the nation's business buyers are concentrated in eight states: California, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Further, business demand is derived demand-it ultimately derives from the demand for consumer goods. Hewlett-Packard and Dell buy Intel microprocessor chips because consumers buy personal computers. If consumer demand for PCs drops, so will the demand for computer chips. Therefore, B-to-B marketers sometimes promote their products directly to final consumers to increase business demand. For example, Intel advertises heavily to personal computer buyers, selling them on the virtues of Intel microprocessors. The increased demand for Intel chips boosts demand for the PCs containing them, and both Intel and its business partners win. Similarly, INVISTA promotes DuPont Teflon directly to final consumers as a key branded ingredient in stain-repellent and wrinkle-free fabrics and leathers. You see Teflon Fabric Protector hangtags on clothing lines such as Nautica and Tommy Hillfiger and on home furnishing brands such as K r a ~ e t By . ~ making Teflon familiar and attractive to final buyers, INVISTA also makes the products containing it more attractive. Many business markets have inelastic demand; that is, total demand for many business products is not affected much by price changes, especially in the short run. A drop in the price of leather will not cause shoe manufacturers to buy much more leather unless it results in lower shoe prices that, in turn, will increase consumer demand for shoes. Finally, business markets have more fluctuating demand. The demand for many business goods and services tends to change more-and more quickly-than the demand for consumer goods and services does. A small percentage increase in consumer demand can cause large increases in business demand. Sometimes a rise of only 10 percent in consumer demand can cause as much as a 200 percent rise in business demand during the next period.

Marketing Structure and Demand Business markets contain fewer but' larger buyers. Business customers are more geographically concentrated. Business buyer demand is derived from final consumer demand. Demand in many business markets is more inelastic-not affected as much in the short run by price changes. Demand in business markets fluctuates more, and more quickly. Nature of the Buying Unit Business purchases involve more buyers. Business buying involves a more professional purchasing effort. Types of Decisions and the Decision Process Business buyers usually face more complex buying decisions. The business buying process is more formalized. In business buying, buyers and sellers work closely together and build long-term relationships. .. .. .. . ."...._. ." ..**.,_, .- -. . __ .. _. ,.._...-,.. '

, '

.--.r

l

. . . I . . . , . .

--*'----'.'--'

162

Part 2

understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

ature of the Buying Compared with consumer purchases, a business purchase usually involves more decision parficipants and a more professional purchasing effort. Often, business buying is done by trained purchasing agents who spend their working lives learning how to buy better. The more complex the purchase, the more likely it is that several people will participate in the decisionmaking process. Buying cornrnittees made up of technical experts and top management are common in the buying of major goods. Beyond this, many companies are now upgrading their purchasing functions to "supply management" or "supplier development" functions. B-to-B marketers now face a new breed of higher-level, bettertrained supply managers. These supply managers sometimes seem to know more about the supplier company than it knows about itself. Therefore, business marketers must have well trained marketers and salespeople to deal with these well trained buyers.

eeisions and the Business buyers usually face more complexc.buying decisions than do consumer buyers. purchases often involve large sums of money, complex technical and economic considerations, and interactions among many people at many levels of the buyer's organization. Because the purchases are more complex, business buyers may take longer to make their decisions. The business buying process also tends to be more Derived demand: Intel advertises heavily to personal computer buyers, formalized than the consumer buying process. Large selling them on the virtues of Intel microprocessors-both Intel and its business purchases usually call for detailed product business partners benefit. specifications, written purchase orders, careful supplier searches, and formal approval. Finally, in the business buying process, the buyer and seller are often much more dependent on each other. Consumer marketers are often at a distance fiom their customers. In contrast, B-to-B marketers may roll up their sleeves and work closely with their customers during all stages of the buying process-fiom helping customers define problems, to finding solutions, to supporting after sale operations. They often customize their offerings to individual customer needs. In the short run, sales go to suppliers who meet buyers' immediate product and service needs. In the long run,however, B-to-B marketers keep a customer's sales by meeting current needs and by partnering with customers to help them solve their problems. In recent years, relationships between customers and suppliers have been changing horn downright adversarial to close and chununy. In fact, many customer companies are now practicSupplier development ing supplier development, systematically developing networks of supplier-partners to ensure an Systematic development of appropriate and dependable supply of products and materials that they will use in making their networks of supplier-partners own products or resell to others. For example, Caterpillar no longer calls its buyers "purchasing agentsu--they are managers of "purchasing and supplier development." Wal-Mart doesn't have a to ensure an appropriate and dependable supply of "Purchasing Department," it has a "Supplier Development Department." And giant Swedish furproducts and materials for niture retailer IKEA doesn't just buy fiom its suppliers, it involves them deeply in the process of use in making products or delivering a stylish and affordable lifestyle to IKEA's customers (see Real Marketing 6.1). reselling them to others.

At the most basic level, marketers want to know how business buyers will respond to various marketing stimuli. Figure 6.1 shows a model of business buyer behavior. In this model, marketing and other stimuli &ect the buying organization and produce certain buyer responses.

Chapter 6 Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

IIG

163

.I

A model of business buyer behavior

As with consumer buying, the marketing stimuli for business buying consist of the Four Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. Other stimuli include major forces in the environment: economic, technological, political, cultural, and competitive. These stimuli enter the organization and are turned into buyer responses: product or service choice; supplier choice; order quaptities; and delivery, service, and payment terms. In order to design good marketing mix strategies, the marketer must understand what happens within the organization to turn stimuli into purchase response^.^ Within the organization, buying activity consists of two major parts: the buying center, made up of all the people involved in the buying decision, and the buying decision process. The model shows that the buying center and the buying decision process are influenced by internal organizational, interpersonal, and individual factors as well as by external environmental factors. The model in Figure 6.1 suggests four questions about business buyer behavior: What buying decisions do business buyers make? Who participates in the buying process? What are the major influences on buyers? How do business buyers make their buying decisions?

Pdajor mes of Buying Situations There are three major types of buying situation^.^ At one extreme is the straight rebuy, which is a fairly routine decision. At the other extreme is the new task, which may call for thorough research. In the middle is the modified rebuy, which requires some research. Straight rebuy In a straight rebuy, the buyer reorders something without any modifications. It is usually A business buying situation in handled on a routine basis by the purchasing department. Based on past buying satisfaction, which the buyer routinely the buyer simply chooses from the various suppliers on its list. "In" suppliers try to maintain reorders something without product and service quality. They often propose automatic reordering systems so that the purany modifications. chasing agent will save reordering time. "Out" suppliers try to find new ways to add value or exploit dissatisfaction so that the buyer will consider them. Modified rebuy In a modified rebuy, the buyer wants to modify product specifications, prices, terms, or A business buying situation in suppliers. The modified rebuy usually involves more decision participants than does the which the buyer wants to straight rebuy. The "in" suppliers may become nervous and feel pressured to put their best modify product specifications, foot forward to protect an account. "Out" suppliers may see the modified rebuy situation as prices, terms, or suppliers. an opportunity to make a better offer and gain new business. A company buying a product or service for the first time faces a new-task situation. In New task such cases, the greater the cost or risk, the larger the number of decision participants and the A business buying situation in greater their efforts to collect information will be. The new-task situation is the marketer's which the buyer purchases a greatest opportunity and challenge. The marketer not only tries to reach as many>keybuying product or service for the first influences as possible but also provides help and information. time. The buyer makes the fewest decisions in the straight rebuy and the most in the new-task decision. In the new-task situation, the buyer must decide on product specifications, suppliers, price limits, payment terms, order quantities, delivery times, and service terms. The order of these decisions varies with each situation, and different decision participants influence each choice. Many business buyers prefer to buy a packaged solution,to a problem from-a single seller. Instead of buying and putting all the components together, the buyer may ask sellers to supply the components and assemble the ~ a c k a g eor system. The sale often goes to the firm that provides the most complete system meeting the customer's needs. Thus,

164

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, is the quintessential global cult brand. Last year, more than 410 million shoppers flocked to the Scandinavian retailer's 236 huge stores in 34 countries, generating more than $18 billion in sales. Most of the shoppers are loyal IKEA customers-many are avid apostles. From Beijing to Moscow to Middletown, Ohio, all are drawn to the IKEA lifestyle, one built around trendy but simple and practical furniture at affordable prices. According to Business Week: Perhaps more than any other company in the world, IKEA has become a curator of people's lifestyles, if not their lives. At a time when consumers face so many choices for everything they buy, IKEA provides a one-stop sanctuary for coolness. IKEA is far Giant Swedish furniture retailer IKEA doesn't just buy from its suppliers, it involves them more than a furniture merchant. It deeply in the process of delivering a stylish and affordable lifestyle to IKEA's customers sells a lifestyle that customers around worldwide-here in Saudi Arabia. the world embrace as a signal that they've arrived, that they have good more than 20 stores a year because supply is the bottleneck," says taste and recognize value. "If it wasn't for IKEA," writes British IKEA's country manager for Russia. design magazine Icon, "most people would have no access to It turns out that creating beautiful, durable furniture at low affordable contemporary design." As the world's Ambassador of Kul (Swedish for fun), IKEA is grow- prices is no easy proposition. It calls for a resolute focus on design ing at a healthy clip. Sales have leapt 3 1 percent in just the past two and an obsession for low costs. IKEA knows that it can't go it alone. years. IKEA plans to open 19 new megastores this year, including Instead, it must develop close partnerships with suppliers around outlets in Western China and Japan. In the United States, it plans to the globe who can help it develop simple new designs and keep expand from its current 28 stores to more than 50 stores by 2013. In costs down. Here's how the company describes its approach, and fact, the biggest obstacle to growth isn't opening new stores and the importance of suppliers: attracting customers. Rather, it's finding enough of the right kinds of suppliers to help design and produce the billions of dollars of goods that those customers will carry out of its stores. IKEA currently relies on about 1,800 suppliers in more than 50 countries to stock its shelves. If the giant retailer continues at its current rate of growth, it will need to double its supply network by 2010. "We can't increase by

To manufacture beautiful, durable furniture at low prices is not so easy. . . . We can't do it alone. . . . First we do our part. Our designers work with manufacturers to find smart ways to make furniture using existing production processes. Then our buyers look all over the world for good suppliers with the most suitable raw materials. Next, we buy in bulk-on a global scale-

Systems selling

systems selling i s o f t e n a k e y business m a r k e t i n g strategy f o r w i n n i n g a n d h o l d i n g

Buying a packaged solution to a problem from a single seller, thus avoiding all the separate decisions involved in a complex buying situation.

accounts. F o r example, C h e m S t a t i o n p r o v i d e s a complete s o l u t i o n f o r i t s customers' i n d u s t r i a l cleaning problems: ChemStation sells i n d u s t r i a l cleaning chemicals t o a w i d e range o f business customers, r a n g i n g f r o m car washes t o t h e U.S. A i r Force. Whether a customer i s washing d o w n a fleet or a factory, a store or a restaurant, a distillery or a n A r m y base, ChemStation comes u p w i t h the r i g h t cleaning s o l u t i o n every time. I t supp l i e s thousands o f p r o d u c t s in h u n d r e d s o f industries. B u t ChemStation does m o r e t h a n just sell chemicals. First, ChemStation w o t k s closely w i t h each i n d i v i d u a l customer t o concoct a soap f o r m u l a specially designed for that customer. I t has b r e w e d special formulas for cleaning hands, feathers, eggs, mufflers, flutes, p e r f u m e vats, cosmetic eye m a k e u p containers, yacht-making m o l d s , concrete

Chapter 6

so that we can get the best deals, and you can get the lowest price. Then you do your part. Using the IKEA catalog and visiting the store, you choose the furniture yourself and pick it up at the self-serve warehouse. Because most items are packed flat, you can get them home easily, and assemble them yourself. This means we don't charge you for things you can easily do on your own. So together we save money . . . for a better everyday life. At IKEA, design is important. But no matter how good the design, a product won't find its way to the showroom unless it's also affordable. IKEA goes to the ends of the earth to find supply partners who can help it to create just the right product at just the right price. According to the BusinessWeek writer, IKEA "once contracted with ski makers-experts in bent wood-to manufacture its Poang armchairs, and it has tapped makers of supermarket carts to turn out durable sofas." The design process for a new IKEA product can take up to three years. IKEA's designers start with a basic customer value proposition. Then, they work closely with key suppliers to bring that proposition to market. Consider IKEA's Olle chair, developed in the late 1990s. Based on customer feedback, designer Evamaria Ronnegard set out to create a sturdy, durable kitchen chair that would fit into any decor, priced at $52. Once her initial design was completed and approved, IKEA's 45 trading offices searched the world and matched the Olle with a Chinese supplier, based on both design and cost efficiencies. Together, Ronnegard and the Chinese supplier refined the design to improve the chair's function and reduce its costs. For example, the supplier modified the back leg angle to prevent the chair from tipping easily. This also reduced the thickness of the seat without compromising the chair's strength, reducing both costs and shipping weight. However, when she learned that the supplier planned to use traditional wood joinery methods to attach the chair back to the seat, Ronnegard intervened. That would require that the chair be shipped in a costly L-shape, which by itself would inflate the chair's retail price to $58. Ronnegard convinced the supplier to go with metal bolts instead. The back-and-forth design process worked well. IKEA introduced its still-popular Olle chair at the $52 target price. (Through continued design and manufacturing refinements, IKEA and its supplier have now reduced the price to just $29.)

Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

165

Throughout the design and manufacturing process, Ronnegard was impressed by the depth of the supplier partnership. "My job really hit home when I got a call from the supplier in China, who had a question about some aspect of the chair," she recalls. "There he was, halfway around the world, and he was calling me about my chair." Now, Ronnegard is often on-site in China or India or Vietnam, working face to face with suppliers as they help to refine her designs. Another benefit of close collaboration with suppliers is that they can often help IKEA to customize its designs to make them sell better in local markets. In China, for example, at the suggestion of a local supplier, IKEA stocked 250,000 plastic place mats commemorating the year of the rooster. The place mats sold out in only three weeks. Thus, before IKEA can sell the billions of dollars worth of products its customer covet, it must first find suppliers who can help it design and make all those products. IKEA doesn't just rely on spot suppliers who might be available when needed. Instead, it has systematically developed a robust network of supplier-partners that reliably provide the more than 10,000 items it stocks. And more than just buying from suppliers, IKEA involves them deeply in the process of designing and making stylish but affordable products to keep IKEA's customers coming back. Working together, IKEA and its suppliers have kept fans like Jen Segrest clamoring for more: At least once a year, Jen Segrest, a 36-year-old freelance Web designer, and her husband travel 10 hours round-trip from their home in Middletown, Ohio, to the IKEA in Schaumburg, Illinois, near Chicago. "Every piece of furniture in my living room is IKEA-except for an end table, which I hate. And next time I go to IKEA I'll replace it," says Segrest. To lure the retailer to Ohio, Segrest has even started a blog called OH! IKEA. The banner on the home page reads "IKEA in OhioBecause man cannot live on Target alone."

'

Sources: Extracts, quotes, and other information from Kerry Capell, "How the Swedish Retailer Became a Global Cult Brand," BusinessWeek, November 14, 2005, p. 103; Shari Kulha, "Behind the Scenes at IKEA," The Guardian, September 29, 2005, p. 8; Greta Guest, "Inside IKEA's Formula for Global Success," Detroit Free Press, June 3, 2006; and "Our Vision: A Better Everyday Life," accessed at www.i kea .corn, December 2006.

trucks, oceangoing trawlers, a n d about a n y t h i n g else y o u c a n imagine. Next, ChemStation delivers t h e custom-made m i x t u r e t o a t a n k i n s t a l l e d at t h e customer's site. Finally, i t maintains the t a n k b y m o n i t o r i n g usage a n d automatically r e f i l l i n g the tank w h e n supplies run low. Thus, ChemStation sells a n entire syst e m for dealing w i t h t h e customer's special cleaning problems. T h e company's motto: "Our system i s y o u r solution!" Partnering w i t h a n i n d i v i d u a l customer to find a full s o l u t i o n creates a lasting relationship that helps ChemStation t o l o c k o u t the competition. A s n o t e d in a n issue o f Insights, ChemStation's customer newsletter, "Our customers . . . oftentimes think of us as more o f a partner than a supplier." Sellers increasingly have recognized that buyers l i k e t h i s m e t h o d and have adopted systems selling as a marketing tool. Systems selling i s a two-step process. First, the sup-

166

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

E3 System selling: ChemStation does more than simply supply its customers with cleaning chemicals. "Our customers . . . think of us as more of a partner than a supplier."

plier sells a group of interlocking products. For exarnple, the supplier sells not only glue, but also applicators and dryers. Second, the supplier sells a system of production, inventory control, distribution, and other services to meet the buyer's need for a smooth-running operation. Systems selling is a key business marketing strategy for winning and holding accounts. The contract often goes to the firm that provides the most complete solution to the customer's needs. For example, the Indonesian government requested bids to build a cement factory near Jakarta. An American firm's proposal included choosing the site, designing the cement factory, hiring the construction crews, assembling the materials and equipment,' and turning the finished factory over to the Indonesian government. A Japanese firm's proposal included all of these services, plus hiring and training workers to run the factory, exporting the cement through their trading companies, and using the cement to build some needed roads and new office buildings in Jakarta. Although the Japanese firm's proposal cost more, it won the contract. Clearly, the Japanese viewed the problem not as just building a cement factory (the narrow view of systems selling) but of running it in a way that would contribute to the country's economy. They took the broadest view of the customer's needs. This is true systems selling6

Participants in t e Business Buying Process Buying center All the individuals and units that play a role in the purchase decision-making process.

Users Members of the buying organization who will actually use the purchased product or service.

lnfiuencers People in an organization's buying center who affect the buying decision; they often help define specifications and also provide information for evaluating alternatives.

Buyers The people in the organization's buying center who make an actual purchase.

Who does the buying of the trillions of dollars' worth of goods and services needed by business organizations? The decision-making unit of a buying organization is called its buying center: all the individuals and units that play a role in the purchase decision-makingprocess. This group includes the actual users of the product or service, those who make the buying decision, those who influence the buying decision, those who do the actual buying, and those who control the buying information. The buying center includes all members of the organization who play any of five roles in the purchase decision proces7 Users are members of the organization who will use the product or service. In many cases, users initiate the buying proposal and help define product specifications. Influencers often help define specifications and also provide information for evaluating alternatives. Technical personnel are particularly important influencers. Buyers have formal authority.to select the supplier and arrange terms of purchase. Buyers may help shape product specifications, but their major role is in selecting vendors and negotiating. In more complex purchases, buyers might include high-level officers participating in the negotiations. Deciders have formal or informal power to select or approve the final suppliers. In routine buying, the buyers are often the deciders, or at least the approvers. Gatekeepers control the flow of information to others. For example, purchasing agents often have authority to prevent salespersons from seeing users or deciders. Other gatekeepers include technical personnel and even personal secretaries. The buying center is not a fixed and formally identified unit within the buying organization. It is a set of buying roles assumed by different people for different purchases. Within the organization, the size and makeup of the buying center will vary for different products and for different buying situations. For some routine purchases; one person-say a purchasing agent-may assume all the buying center roles and serve as the only person involved in the buying decision.Por more complex purchases, the buying center may include 20 or 30 people from different levels and departments in the organization.

Chapter 6 Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

167

The buying center concept presents a major marketing challenge. The business marketer must learn who participates in the decision, each participant's relative influence, and what evaluation criteria each decision participant uses. For example, the medical products and services group of Cardinal Health sells disposable surgical gowns to hospitals. It identifies the hospital personnel involved in this buying decision as the vice president of purchasing, the operating room administrator, and the surgeons. Each participant plays a diEerent role. The vice president of purchasing analyzes whether the hospital should buy disposable gowns or reusable gowns. If analysis favors disposable gowns, then the operating room administrator compares competing products and prices and makes a choice. This administrator considers the gown's absorbency, antiseptic quality, design, and cost and normally Q Buying Center: Cardinal Health deals with a wide range of buying influences, buys the brand that meets requirements at the from purchasing executives and hospital administrators to the surgeons who lowest cost. Finally, surgeons affect the decision actually use its products. later by reporting their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the brand. [Deciders The buying center usually includes some obvious participants who are involved formally in the buying decision. For example, the decision to buy a corporate jet will probably People in the organization's involve the company's CEO, chief pilot, a purchasing agent, some legal staff, a member of top buying center who have formal or informal power to management, and others formally charged with the buying decision. It may also involve less select or approve the final obvious, informal participants, some of whom may actually make or strongly affect the buysuppliers. ing decision. Sometimes, even the people in the buying center are not aware of all the buying participants. For example, the decision about which corporate jet to buy may actually be Gatekeepers made by a corporate board member who has an interest in flying and who knows a lot about People in the organization's airplanes. This board member may work behind the scenes to sway the decision. Many busibuying center who control the ness buying decisions result from the complex interactions of ever-changing buying center flow of information to others. participants.

Business buyers are subject to many influences when they make their buying decisions. Some marketers assume that the major influences are economic. They think buyers will favor the supplier who offers the lowest price or the best produd~orthe most service. They concentrate on offering strong economic benefits to buyers. However, business buyers actually respond to both economic and personal factors. Far from being cold, calculating, and impersonal, business buyers are human and social as well. They react to both reason and emotion. Today, most B-to-B marketers recognize that emotion plays an important role in business buying decisions. For example, you might expect that an advertisement promoting large trucks to corporate fleet buyers would stress objective technical, performance, and economic factors. However, one ad for Volvo heavy-duty trucks shows two drivers armwrestling and claims, "It solves all your fleet problems. Except who gets to drive." It turns out that, in the face of an industry-wide driver shortage, the type of truck a fleet provides can help it to attract qualified drivers. The Volvo ad stresses the raw beauty of the truck and its comfort and roominess, features that make it more appealing to drivers. The ad concludes that Volvo trucks are "built to make fleets more profitable and drivers a lot more pos~essive."~ When suppliers' offers are very similar, business buyers have little basis for strictly rational choice. Because they can meet organizational goals with any supplier, buyers can allow personal factors to play a larger role in their decisions. However, when competing products differ greatly, business buyers are more accountable for their choice and tend to pay more attention to economic factors. Figure 6.2 lists various groups of influences on business buyers-environmental, organizational, interpersonal, and individuaLg

,;alz!ssassod aiow $01 e sialzyp,, ay eur Teyz sainJea4 'SsauyIooi pue u o p ~ o sq! pue ysni? ay$ 40 Qneaq Mei ay$ se yJns slope4 leuogoua aiour sassalp $1 lng -ameua$u!eur 40 asea pue A ~ u a p q a se q ~ n 6i s m $ saanyaFqo ~ suoguaur pe y m q O A ~ O A skql :fju!Knqs s a u p q ui aloi yxvodurl ue Aeld s u o g o ~ ug ~

Chapter 6

Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

169

wear tags that label them as "key decision maker" or "not influential." Nor do buying center participants with the highest rank always have the most influence. Participants may influence the buying decision because they control rewards and punishments, are well liked, have special expertise, or have a special relationship with other important participants. Interpersonal factors are often very subtle. Whenever possible, business marketers must try to understand these factors and design strategies that take them into account.

Each participant in the business buying decision process brings in personal motives, perceptions, and preferences. These individual factors are affected by personal characteristics such as age, income, education, professional identification, personality, and attitudes toward risk. Also, buyers have different buying styles. Some may be technical types who make indepth analyses of competitive proposals before choosing a supplier. Other buyers may be intuitive negotiators who are adept at pitting the sellers against one another for the best deal.

The Business Buying Process Problem recognition The first stage of the business buying process in which someone in the company recognizes a problem or need that can be met by acquiring a good or a service.

General need description The stage in the business buying process in which the company describes the general characteristics arid quantity of a needed item.

Product specification The stage of the business buying process in which the buying organization decides on and specifies the best technical product characteristics for a needed item.

Value analysis An approach to cost reduction in which components are studied carefully to determine if they can be redesigned, standardized, or made by less costly methods of production.

Figure 6.3 lists the eight stages of the business buying process.1•‹Buyers who face a new-task buying situation usually go through all stages of the buying process. Buyers making modified or straight rebuys may skip some of the stages. We will examine these steps for the typical new-task buying situation.

The buying process begins when someone in the company recognizes a problem or need that can be met by acquiring a specific product or service. Problem recognition can result from internal or external stimuli. Internally, the company-may decide to launch a new product that requires new production equipment and materials. Or a machine may break down and need new parts. Perhaps a purchasing manager is unhappy with a current supplier's product quality, service, or prices. Externally, the buyer may get some new ideas at a trade show, see an ad, or receive a call from a salesperson who offers a better product or a lower price. In fact, in their advertising,business marketers often alert customers to potential problems and then show how their products provide solutions. For example, Kodak Health Imaging ads point out the complexities of hospital ima,oing and suggest that with Kodak, "complexity becomes clarity."

Gener&! 3Jeed.Description Having recognized a need, the buyer next prepares a general need description that describes the characteristics and quantity of the needed item. For standard items, this process presents few problems. For complex items, however, the buyer may need to work with others-engineers, users, consultants-to define the item. The team may want to rank the importance of reliability, durability, price, and other attributes desired in the item. In this phase, the alert business marketer can help the buyers define their needs and provide information about the value of different product characteristics.

Prod~x_rc$ Speeific&ion The buying'organization next develops the item's technical product specifications, often with the help of a value analysis engineering team. Value analysis is an approach to cost reduction in which components are studied carefully to determine if they can be

Stages of the business buying process

170

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

Picture this: Consolidated Amalgamation, Inc., thinks it's time that the rest of the world enjoyed the same fine prodoffered American consumers for two generations. It dispatches Vice President Harry E. Slicksmile to Europe, Africa, and Asia to explore the territory. Mr. Slicksmile stops first in London, where he makes short work of some bankers-he rings them up on the phone. He handles Parisians with similar ease: After securing a table at La Tour dtArgent, he greets his luncheon guest, the director of an industrial engineering firm, with the words, "Just call me Harry, Jacques." In Germany, Mr. Slicksmile is a powerhouse. Whisking through a lavish, state-of-the-art marketing presentation, complete with flip charts and audiovisuals, he shows 'em that this Georgia boy knows how to make a buck. Heading on to Milan, Harry strikes up a conversation with the Japanese businessman sitting next to him on the plane. He flips his card onto the guy's tray and, when the two say good-bye, shakes hands warmly and clasps the man's right arm. Later, for his appointment with the owner of an Italian packaging design firm, our hero wears his comfy corduroy sport coat, khaki pants, and Topsiders. Everybody knows Italians are zany and laid back. Mr. Slicksmile next swings through Saudi Arabia, where he coolly presents a potential client with a multimillion-dollarproposal in a classy pigskin binder. His final stop is Beijing, China, where he talks business over lunch with a group of Chinese executives. After completing the meal, he drops his chopsticks into his bowl of rice and presents each guest with an elegant Tiffany clock as a reminder of his visit. A great tour, sure to generate a pile of orders, right? Wrong. Six months later, Consolidated ~malgamationhas nothing to show for the trip but a stack of bills. Abroad, they weren't wild about Harry. This hypothetical case has been exaggerated for emphasis. Americans are seldom such dolts. But experts say success in international business has a lot to do with knowing the territory and its people. By learning English and extending themselves in other ways, the world's business leaders have met Americans more than halfway. In contrast, Americans too often do little except assume that others will march to their music. "We want things to be 'American' when we travel. Fast. Convenient. Easy. So we become 'ugly Americans' by

American companies must help their managers understand international customers and customs. For example, Japanese people revere the business card as an extension of self-they do not hand it out to people, they present it.

redesigned, standardized, o r made b y less costly methods of production. T h e team decides o n t h e best p r o d u c t characteristics a n d specifies t h e m accordingly. Sellers, too, c a n use value analysis as a t o o l t o h e l p secure a n e w account. B y showing buyers a better w a y t o make a n object, outside sellers can turn straight rebuy situations i n t o new-task situations that give t h e m a chance t o obtain n e w business.

Supplier s e a r ~ h The stage of the business buying process in which the buyer tries to find the best vendors.

The buyer n o w conducts a supplier search to find the best vendors. The buyer can compile a small l i s t o f qualified suppliers b y reviewing trade directories, doing computer searches, or phoning other companies for recommendations. Today, more and more companies are turning to the Internet to find suppliers. For marketers, this has leveled the playing field-the Internet gives smaller suppliers many o f the same advantages as larger competitors. The newer the b u y i n g task, and the more complex a n d costly the item, the greater the amount o f t i m e the buyer w i l l spend searching for suppliers. T h e supplier's task i s t o get listed in major directories and build a good reputation in the marketplace. Salespeople should watch for companies in the process o f searching for suppliers and make certain that their firm i s considered.

Chapter 6

demanding that others change," says one American world trade expert. "I think more business would be done if we tried harder." Poor Harry tried, all right, but in all the wrong ways. The British do not, as a rule, make deals over the phone as much as Americans do. It's not so much a "cultural" difference as a difference in approach. A proper Frenchman neither likes instant familiarity-questions about family, church, or alma mater-nor refers to strangers by their first names. "That poor fellow, Jacques, probably wouldn't show anything, but he'd recoil. He'd not be pleased," explains an expert on French business practices. "It's considered poor taste," he continues. "Even after months of business dealings, I'd wait for him or her to make the invitation [to use first names]. . . . You are always right, in Europe, to say 'Mister.' " Harry's flashy presentation would likely have been a flop with the Germans, who dislike overstatement and showiness. According to one German expert, however, German businessmen have become accustomed to dealing with Americans. Although differences in body language and customs remain, the past 20 years have softened them. "I hugged an American woman at a business meeting last night," he said. "That would be normal in France, but [older] Germans still have difficulty [with the customl." He says that calling secretaries by their first names would still be considered rude: "They have a right to be called by the surname. You'd certainly ask-and get-permission first." In Germany, people address each other formally and correctly-someone with two doctorates (which is fairly common) must be referred to as "Herr Doktor Doktor." When Harry Slicksmile grabbed his new Japanese acquaintance by the arm, the executive probably considered him disrespectful and presumptuous. Japan, like many Asian countries, is a "no-contact culture" in which even shaking hands is a strange experience. Harry made matters worse by tossing his business card. Japanese people revere the business card as an extension of self and as an indicator of rank. They do not hand it to people, they present it-with both hands. In addition, the Japanese are sticklers about rank. Unlike Americans, they don't heap praise on subordinates in a room; they will praise only the highest-ranking official present.

Proposal solicitation The stage of the business buying process in which the buyer invites qualified suppliers to submit proposals.

Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

171

Hapless Harry also goofed when he assumed that Italians are like Hollywood's stereotypes of them. The flair for design and style that has characterized Italian culture for centuries is embodied in the businesspeople of Milan and Rome. They dress beautifully and admire flair, but they blanch at garishness or impropriety in others' attire. To the Saudi Arabians, the pigskin binder would have been considered vile. An American salesman who really did present such a binder was unceremoniouslytossed out and his company was blacklisted from working with Saudi businesses. In China, Harry's casually dropping his chopsticks could have been misinterpreted as an act of aggression. Stabbing chopsticks into a bowl of rice and leaving them signifies death to the Chinese. The clocks Harry offered as gifts might have confirmed such dark intentions. To "give a clock" in Chinese sounds the same as "seeing someone off to his end." Thus, to compete successfully in global markets, or even to deal effectively with international firms in their home markets, companies must help their managers to understand the needs, customs, and cultures of international business buyers. "When doing business in a foreign country and a foreign culture-particularly a non-Western culture-assume nothing," advises an international business specialist. "Take nothing for granted. Turn every stone. Ask every question. Dig into every detail. Because cultures really are different, and those differences can have a major impact." So the old advice is still good advice: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Sources: Portions adapted from Susan Harte, "When in Rome, You Should Learn to Do What the Romans Do," The Atlanta JournalConstitution,January 22, 1990, pp. Dl, D6. Additional examples can be found in David A. Ricks, Blunders in International Business Around ?he World (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2000); Terri Morrison, . Wayne A. Conway, and Joseph J. Douress, Dun & Bradstreet's Guide to Doing Business (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000); Jarne K. Sebenius,."The Hidden Challenge of Cross-Border Negotiatons," Harvard Business Review, March 2002, pp. 76-85; Ross Thompson, "Lost in Translation," Medical Marketingand Media, March 2005, p. 82; and information accessed at www.executiveplanet.com, December 2006.

In the proposal solicitation stage o f the business b u y i n g process, the buyer invites qualified suppliers to submit proposals. In response, some suppliers w i l l send only a catalog or a salesperson. However, w h e n the i t e m i s complex o r expensive, the buyer w i l l usually require detailed w r i t t e n proposals or formal presentations f r o m each potential supplier. Business marketers m u s t be skilled in researching, writing, and presenting proposals in response to buyer proposal solicitations. Proposals should be marketing documents, not just technical documents. Presentations should inspire confidence a n d should make the marketer's company stand out f r o m the competition. .-., . ~ - ~ ~$3~je&5~3.2 ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ e r ,

d B

Supplier selection The stage of the business buying process in which the buyer reviews proposals and selects a supplier or suppliers.

The members o f the b u y i n g center n o w review the proposals and select a supplier or suppliers. D u r i n g supplier selection, the b u y i n g center often w i l l draw up a l i s t o f the desired supp l i e r attributes and their relative importance. In one survey, purchasing executives listed the following attributes as most important in influencing the relationship between supplier and customer: quality products and services, on-time delivery, ethical corporate behavior, honest communication, and competitive prices. Other important factors include repair and servicing

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers capabilities, technical aid and advice, geographic location, performance history, and reputation. The members of the buying center will rate suppliers against these attributes and identify the best suppliers. Buyers may attempt to negotiate with preferred suppliers for better prices and terms before making the final selections. In the end, they may select a single supplier or a few suppliers. Many buyers prefer multiple sources of supplies to avoid being totally dependent on one supplier and to allow comparisons of prices and performance of several suppliers over time. Today's supplier development managers want to develop a-full network of supplierpartners that can help the company bring more value to its customers.

Order-routine specification The stage of the business buying process in which the buyer writes the final order with the chosen supplier(s1, listing the technical specifications, quantity needed, expected time of delivery, return policies, and warranties.

Performance review The stage of the business buying process in which the buyer assesses the performance of the supplier and decides to contrnue, modify, or drop the arrangement.

The buyer now prepares an order-routine specification. It includes the final order with the chosen supplier or suppliers and lists items such as technical specifications, quantity needed, expected time of delivery, return policies, and warranties. In the case of maintenance, repair, and operating items, buyers may use blanket contracts rather than periodic purchase orders. A blanket contract creates a longterm relationship in which the supplier promises to resupply the buyer as needed at agreed prices for a set time period. Many large buyers now practice vendor-managed inventory, in which they turn over ordering and inventory responsibilities to their suppliers. Under such systems, buyers share sales and inventory information directly with key suppliers. The suppliers then monitor inventories and replenish stock automatically as needed.

In this stage, the buyer reviews supplier performance, The buyer may contact users and ask them to rate their satisfaction. The performance review may lead the buyer to continue, modify, or drop the arrangement. The seller's job is to monitor the same factors used by the buyer to make sure that the seller is giving the expected satisfaction. The eight stage buying-process model provides a simple view of the business buying as it might occur in a new-task buying situation. The actual process is usually much more complex. In the modified rebuy or straight rebuy situation, some of these stages would be compressed or bypassed. Each-organization buys in its own way, and each buying situation has unique requirements. Different buying center participants may be involved at different stages of the process. Although certain buying-process steps usually do occur, buyers do not always follow them in the same order, and they may add other steps. Often, buyers will repeat certain stages of the process. Finally, a customer relationship might involve many different types of purchases ongoing at a given time, all in different stages of the buying process. The seller must manage the total customer relationship, not just individual purchases.

E-Procurement: Buying on the Internet During the past few years, advances in information technology have changed the face of the B-to-B marketing process. Online purchasing, often called eprocurement, has grown rapidly. Companies can do e-procurement in ahy of several ways. They can set up their own company buying sites. For example, GE operates a company trading site on which it posts its buying needs and invites bids, negotiates terms, and places orders. Or the company can create exfranef links with key suppliers. For instance, they can create direct procurement accounts with suppliers such as Dell or Office Depot through which company buyers can purchase equipment, materials, and supplies. B-to-B marketers can help customers who wish to purchase online by creating welldesigned, easy-to-use Web sites. For example, BfoB magazine regularly rates HewlettPackard's B-to-B Web site among very best. The HP site consists of some 1,900 site areas and 2.5 million pages. It integrates an enormous amount of product and company information, putting it within only a few mouse clicks of customers' computers. IT buying decision makers can enter the site, click directly into their customer segment-large enterprise business; small or medium business; or government, health, or educational institution-and quickly find product overviews, detailed technical information, and purchasing solutions.

Chapter 6 Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

E1

5rarlt

rFU*."Iw

.1

Lerge Enlerprlse Buslness

LSIP WIW(I.IBY.CIIW

r

UoIWU:

173

The site lets customers create customized catalogs for frequently purchased products, set up automatic approval routing for orders, and conduct end-to-end transaction processing. To build deeper, more personalized online relationships with customers, HP.com features flash demos that show how to use the site, e-newsletters, live chats with sales reps, online classes, and real-time customer support. The site has really paid off. Roughly 55 percent the company's total sales now come from the Web site.ll

E-procurement gives buyers access to new suppliers, lowers purchasing costs, and hastens order processing and delivery. In 'turn, business marketers can connect with To help customers who wish to purchase online, HP's Web site consists of some customers online to share marketing infor1,500 site areas and 1 million pages. It provides product overviews, detailed technical mation, sell products and services, provide information, purchasing solutions, e-newsletters, live chats with sales reps, online customer support services, and maintain classes, and real-time customer support. ongoing customer relationships. So far, most of the products bought online are MRO materials-maintenance, repair, and operations. For instance, Hewlett-Packard spends 95 percent of its $13 billion MRO budget via e-procurement. And last year Delta Air Lines purchased $6.2 billion worth of fuel online. National Semiconductor has automated almost all of the company's 3,500 monthly requisitions to buy materials ranging from the sterile booties worn in its fabrication plants to state-ofthe-art software. Even the Baltimore Aquarium uses e-procurement to buy everything from exotic fish to feeding supplies. It recently spent $6 billion online for architectural services and supplies to help construct a new exhibit "Animal Planet Australia: Wild extreme^."^^ The actual dollar amount spent on these types of MRO materials pales in comparison to the amount spent for items such as airplane parts, computer systems, and steel tubing. Yet, MRO materials make up 80 percent of all business orders and the transaction costs for order processing are high. Thus, companies have much to gain by streamlining the MRO buying process on the Web. Business-to-business e-procurement yields many benefits. First, it shaves transaction costs and results in more efficient purchasing for both buyers and suppliers. A Web-powered purchasing program eliminates the paperwork associated with traditional requisition and ordering procedures. One recent study found that e-procurement cuts down requisition-toorder costs by an average of 58 percent.13 E-procurement reduces the time between order and delivery. Time savings are particularly dramatic for companies with many overseas suppliers. Adaptec, a leading supplier of computer storage, used an extm.net to tie all of its Taiwanese chip suppliers together in a kind of virtual family. Now messages from Adaptec flow in seconds from its headquarters to its Asian partners, and Adaptec has reduced the time between the order and delivery of its chips hom as long as 16 weeks to just 55 days-the same turnaround time for companies that build their own chips. Finally, beyond the cost and time savings, e-procurement frees purchasing people to focus on more-strategic issues. For many purchasing professionals, going online means reducing drudgery and paperwork and spending more time managing inventory and working creatively with suppliers. "That is the key," says the HP executive. "You can now focus people on value-added activities. Procurement professionals can now find different sources and work with suppliers to reduce costs and to develop new products."14 The rapidly expanding use of e-purchasing, however, also presents some problems. For example, at the same time that the Web makes it possible for suppliers and customers to share business data and even collaborate on product design, it can also erode decades-old customersupplier relationships. Many firms are using the Web to search for better suppliers. E-purchasing can also create potential security disasters. Although e-mail and home banking transactions can be protected through basic encryption, the secure environment that businesses need to carry out confidential interactions is often still lacking. Companies are spending millions for research on defensive strategies to keep hackers at bay. Cisco Systems,

174

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers for example, specifies the types of routers, firewalls, and security procedures that its partners must use to safeguard extranet connections. In fact, the company goes even further-it segds its own security engineers to examine a partner's defenses and holds the partner liable for any security breach that originates from its computer.

So far, our discussion of organizational buying has focused largely on the buying behavior of business buyers. Much of this discussion also applies to the buying practices of institutional and government organizations. However, these two nonbusiness markets have additional characteristics and needs. In this final section, we address the special features of institutional and government markets.

Institutional market Schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other institutions that provide goods and services to people in their care.

The institutional market consists of schools, hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other institutions that provide goods and services to people in their care. Institutions differ from one another in their sponsors and in their objectives. For example, Tenet Healthcare runs 70 for-profit hospitals in 12 states. By contrast, the Shriners Hospitals for Children is a nonprofit organization that provides free specialized health care for children, and the government-run Veteran Affairs Medical Centers located across the country provide special services to veterans.15 Each institution has different buying needs and resources. Many institutional markets are characterized by low budgets and .captive patrons. For example, hospital patients have little choice but to eat whatever food the hospital supplies. A hospital purchasing agent must decide on the quality of food to buy for patients. Because the food is provided as a part of a total service package, the buying objective is not profit. Nor is strict cost minimization the goal-patients receiving poor-quality food will complain to others and damage the hospital's reputation. Thus, the hospital purchasing agent must search for institutional-food vendors whose quality meets or exceeds a certain minimum standard and whose prices are low. Many marketers set up separate divisions to meet the special characteristics and needs of institutional buyers. For example, Heinz produces, packages, and prices its ketchup and other condiments, canned soups, frozen desserts, pickles, and other products differently to better serve the requirements of hospitals, colleges, and other institutional markets. Nearly 20 percent of the company's saleg come from its U.S. Foodservice division, which includes institutional customers.16

The government market offers large opportunities for many companies, both big and small. In most countries, government organizations are major buyers of goods and services. In the Ei Institutional markets: Heinz produces, packages, and prices its products United States alone, federal, state, and local differentlyto better serve the requirements of hospitals, colleges, and other governments contain more than 82,000 buying institutional markets. units. Government buying and business b v i n g are similar in many ways. But there are'also Government market differences that must be understood by companies that wish to sell products and services to Governmental units-federal, _ governments. To succeed in the government market, sellers must locate key decision makstate, and local-that ers, identify the factors that affect buyer behavior, and understand the buying decision purchase or rent goods and process. services for carrying out the Government organizations typically require suppliers to submit bids, and normally they main functions of award the contract to the lowest bidder. In some cases, the government unit will make government. allowance for the supplier's superior quality or reputation for completing contracts on time.

I

I I

Chapter 6

Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

175

Governments will also buy on a negotiated contract basis, primarily in the case of complex projects involving major R&D costs and risks, and in cases where there is little competition. Government organizations tend to favor domestic suppliers over foreign suppliers. A major complaint of multinationals operating in Europe is that each country shows favoritism toward its nationals in spite of superior offers that are made by foreign firms. The European Economic Commission is gradually removing this bias. Like consumer and business buyers, government buyers are affected by environmental, organizational, interpersonal, and individual factors. One unique thing about government buying is that it is carefully watched by outside publics, ranging from Congress to a variety of private groups interested in how the government spends taxpayers' money. Because their spending decisions are subject to public review, government organizations require considerable paperwork from suppliers, who often complain about excessive paperwork, bureaucracy, regulations, decision-making delays, and frequent shifts in procurement personnel. Given all the red tape, why would any firm want to do business with the U.S. government? The reasons are quite simple: The U.S. government is the world's largest buyer of products and services-and its checks don't bounce. For example, last year, the federal government spent a whopping $65 billion on information technology alone. The Transportation Security Agency spent more than $380 million just for electronic baggage screening technology.17 Most governments provide would-be suppliers with detailed guides describing how to sell to the government. For example, the U.S. Small Business Administration publishes a guide entitled U.S. Government Purchasing, Specifications, and Sales Directory, which lists products and services frequently bought by the federal government and the specific agencies most frequently buying them. The Government Printing Office issues the Commerce Business Daily, which lists major current and planned purchases and recent contract awards, both of which can provide leads to subcontracting markets. The U.S. Commerce Department publishes Business America, which provides interpretations of government policies and programs and gives concise information on potential worldwide trade opportunities. In several major cities, the General Services Administration operates Business Service Centers with staffs to provide a complete education on the way government agencies buy, the steps that suppliers should follow, and the procurement opportunities available. Various trade magazines and associations provide information on how to reach schools, hospitals, highway departments, and other government agencies. And almost all of these government organizations and associations maintain Internet sites offering up-to-date information and advice. Still, suppliers must master the system and find ways to cut through the red tape, especially for large government purchases. Consider Envisage Technologies, a small software development company that specializes in Internet-based training applications and human resource management platforms. All of its contracts fall in the government sector; 65 percent are with the federal government. Envisage uses the General Services Administration (GSA) Web site to gain access to smaller procurements, often receiving responses within 14 days. However, it puts the most sweat into seeking large, highly coveted contracts. A comprehensive bid proposal for one of these contracts can easily run from 600 to-700 pages because of federal paperwork requirements. And the company's president estimates that to prepare a single bid proposal the firm has spent as many as 5,000 man-hours over the course of a few years.18 Noneconomic criteria also play a growing role in government buying. Government buyers are asked to favor depressed business firms and areas; small business firms; minority-owned firms; and business firms that avoid race, gender, or age discrhnination. Sellers need to keep these factors in mind when deciding to seek government business. Many companies that sell to the government have not been very marketing oriented for a number of reasons. Total government spending is determined by elected officials rather than by any marketing effort to develop this market. Government buying has emphasized price, making suppliers invest their effort in technology to bring costs down. When the product's characteristics are specified carefully, product differentiation is not a marketing factor.' Nor do advertising or personal selling matter much in winning bids on an open-bid basis. Several companies, however, have established separate government marketing departments, including GE, CDW, Kodak, and Goodyear. These companies anticipate government needs and projects, participate in the product specification phase, gather competitive intelligence, prepare bids carefully, and produce stronger communications to describe and enhance their companies' reputations. Other companies have set up customized marketing programs for government buyers. For example, Dell has specific business units tailored to meet the needs of federal as well as state and local government buyers. Dell offers its customers tailor-made Premier ~ e l l . c o mWeb

176

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers pages t h a t i n c l u d e special p r i c i n g , o n l i n e purchasing, and service a n d s u p p o r t for each city, state, and federal government entity. D u r i n g t h e p a s t decade, a great d e a l o f t h e government's b u y i n g has g o n e o n l i n e . T h e F e d e r a l Business O p p o r t u n i t i e s W e b site (www.FedBizOpps.gov) acts as a single g o v e r n m e n t p o i n t o f e n t r y f o r federal g o v e r n m e n t p r o c u r e m e n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s over t h e a m o u n t o f $25,000. T h e three federal agencies t h a t act as p u r c h a s i n g agents f o r t h e rest o f government h a v e also l a u n c h e d W e b sites s u p p o r t i n g o n l i n e g o v e r n m e n t p u r c h a s i n g a c t i v i t y . T h e G S A , w h i c h influences m o r e than one-quarter o f t h e federal government's t o t a l p r o c u r e m e n t dollars, has set up a G S A Advantage! W e b site (www.gsaadvantage.gov). T h e Defense Logistics A g e n c y offers a P r o c u r e m e n t Gateway (http://progate.daps.dla.mil) f o r purchases by America's military services. And t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f Veteran A f f a i r s facilitates e-procurement t h r o u g h i t s V A Advantage! W e b site (https://vaadvantage.gsa.gov). S u c h sites a l l o w a u t h o r i z e d defense and c i v i l i a n agencies t o buy e v e r y t h i n g f r o m office s u p p l i e s , food, and i n f o r m a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y e q u i p m e n t t o c o n s t r u c t i o n services t h r o u g h o n l i n e purchasing. T h e GSA, V A , and DLA n o t o n l y s e l l stocked m e r c h a n d i s e t h r o u g h t h e i r W e b sites but also create d i r e c t l i n k s b e t w e e n b u y e r s and contract suppliers. F o r example, t h e b r a n c h o f t h e DLA t h a t sells 160,000 types o f m e d i c a l s u p p l i e s t o military forces transmits orders d i r e c t l y t o vendors s u c h as Bristol-Myers. S u c h I n t e r n e t systems p r o m i s e t o e l i m i n a t e m u c h o f t h e hassle sometimes f o u n d in d e a l i n g w i t h g o v e r n m e n t purchasing.lg

Business markets and consumer markets are alike in some key ways. For example, both include people in buying roles who make purchase decisions to satisfy needs. But business markets also differ in many ways from consumer markets. For one thing, the business market is enormous, far larger than the consumer market. Within the United States alone, the business market includes organizations that annually purchase trillions of dollars' worth of goods and services. 1. Define the business market and explain how business markets differ from consumer markets. Business buyer behaviorrefers to the buying behavior of the organizations that buy goods and services for use in the production of other products and services that are sold, rented, or supplied to others. It also includes the behavior of retailing and wholesaling firms that acquire goods for the purpose of reselling or renting them to others at a profit. As compared to consumer markets, business markets usually have fewer, larger buyers who are more geographically concentrated. Business demand is derived, largely inelastic, and more fluctuating. More buyers are usually involved in the business buying decision, and business buyers are better trained and more professional than are consumer buyers. In general, business purchasing decisions are more complex, and the buying process is more formal than consumer buying.

2. Identify the major factors that influence business buyer behavior. Business buyers make decisions that vary with the three types of buyingsituations: straight rebuys, modified rebuys, and new tasks. The decision-making unit of a buying organization-the buying center-can consist of many different persons playing many different roles. The business marketer needs to know the following: Who are the major buying center participants? In what decisions do they exercise influence and to what degree? What evaluation criteria does each decision participant use? The business marketer also -needs to understand the major environmental, organizational, interpersonal, and individual influences on the buying process.

3. List and define the steps in the business buying decision process.

The business buying decision process itself can be quite involved, with eight basic stages: problem recognition, general need description, product specification, supplier search, proposal solicitation, supplier selection, order-routine specification, and performance review. Buyers who face a new-task buying situation usually go through all stages of the buying process. Buyers making modified or straight rebuys may skip some of the stages. Companies must manage the overall customer relationship, which often includes many different buying decisions in various stages of the buying decision process. Recent advances in information technology have given birth to "e-procurement," by which business buyers are purchasing all kinds of products and services online. The Internet gives business buyers access to new suppliers, lowers purchasing costs, and hastens order processing and delivery. However, e-procurement can also erode customersupplier relationshipsand create potential security problems. Still, business marketers are increasingly connecting with customers online to share marketing information, sell products and services, provide customer support services, and maintain ongoing customer relationships. 4. Compare the institutional and government markets and explain how :.institutional and government buyers make their buying decisions. The institutional market consists of schools, hospitals, prisons, and other institutions that provide goods and services to people in their care. These markets are characterized by low budgets and captive patrons. The government market, which is vast, consists of government units-federal, state, and local-that purchase or rent goods and services for carrying out the main functions of government. Government buyers purchase products and services for defense, education, public welfare, and other public needs. Government buying practices are highly specialized and specified, with open bidding or negotiated contracts characterizing most of the buying. Government buyers operate under the watchful eye of Congress and many private watchdog groups. Hence, they tend to require more forms and signatures and to respond more slowly and deliberately when placing orders.

Chapter 6 Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

Business buyer behavior 160 Business buying process 160 Buyers 166 Buying center 166 Deciders 167 Derived demand 161 Gatekeepers 167

General need description 169 Government market 174 lnfluencers 166 Institutional market 174 Modified rebuy 163 New task 163

Order-routine specification 172 Performance review 172 Problem recognition 169 Product specification 169 Proposal solicitation 171 Straight rebuy 163

Supplier development 162 Supplier search 170 Supplier selection 171 Systems selling 164 Users 166 Value analysis 169

Disoussing the Concepts 1. How do the market structure and demand of the business markets for Intel's microprocessor chips differ from those of final consumer markets? 2. Discuss several ways in which a straight rebuy differs from a newtask situation. 3. In a buying center purchasing process, which buying center participant-a buyer, decider, gatekeeper, influencer, or user-is most likely to make each of the following statements? Gil "This bonding agent better be good, because I have to put this product together." SI "I specified this bonding agent on another job, and it worked for them." "Without an appointment, no sales rep gets in to see Mr. Johnson."

1. Burst-of-Energy is a food product positioned in the extreme sports market as a performance enhancer. A distributor of the product has seen an upward shift in the demand for the product (depicted in the figure at the right). The manufacturer has done nothing to generate this demand, but there have been a couple of reports that two popular celebrities were photographed with the product. Could something like this happen? Based on the figure, how would you characterize the demand for the product? is it elastic or inelastic? Would you call this an example of fluctuating demand? Support your answers. 2. Assume that you own a market research consulting firm that specializes in conducting focus groups for food manufacturers. Your customers are marketing managers and market research managers at these large firms. Outline your business consumers' buying process and explain how you can improve your chances of being hired at each step of the process.

Social networking is a hot topic in Internet marketing. Web sites including friendster.com and myspace.com are crowded meeting grounds for Web visitors who are hoping to get connected online. Social networking is also a growing technology for B-to-B interactions. From finding services, locating opportunities, even recruiting board members, these sites offer what business consumers need. InnerSell.com is a company that is using

"Okay, it's a deal-we'll buy it." "I'll place the order first thing tomorrow." 4. Outline the major influences on business buyers. Why is it important for the business-to-business buyer to understand these major influences? 5. How does the business buying process differ from the consumer buying process? 6. Suppose that you own a small printing firm and have the opportunity to bid on a federal government contract that could bring a considerable amount of new business to your company. List three advantages and.three disadvantages of working in a contract situation with the federal government.

Price

$2.00

1,000,000 2,000,000 Quantity

3. Form a small group and compare the similarities and differences between a buyer at a Veteran's Administration Hospital and a buyer at a for-profit hospital like Humana. Compare the buyers on the following four factors: environmental, organizational, interpersonal, and individual.

social networking to drive real business for clients by locating prospects. A sample scenario on InnerSell.com works like this: a. An InnerSeli.com member, who sells real estate, talks to a prospect or customer and learns that it has a need for $50,000 worth of photocopiers.

Part 2

Understanding the Marketplace and Consumers

The member enters the need (lead) into InnerSell.com and sees a list of trusted photocopier vendors along with their ratings and their finder's fee. The member views each vendor's ratings and selects two photocopier vendors who pay a 10 percent finder's fee. The selected vendors receive an e-mail advising them that they've been chosen and instructing them to log into InnerSell.comto see the details of the opportunity. When a selected vendor sees the lead, contacts the customer, and wins the business, it pays InnerSell.com its 10 percent finder's fee (in this case, $5,000).

You are the senior buyer for a growing medical products company and an avid baseball fan. You have just opened an invitation to attend the World Series this coming fall. The invitation is from a supplier company that has been trying to sell you its new line of products for the past year. The supplier will pay for everything-travel, room, meals-and you'll even get an opportunity to meet some of the players. You have read the newly released employee manual and there is no reference or rule that specifically states that an employee cannot accept a fully paid trip from a vendor, although there are some vague restrictions on lunches and dinners paid for by suppliers.

With nearly 60,000 employees doing business in 125 countries and sales last year of more than $11 billion, Eaton is one of the world's largest suppliers of diversified industrial goods. Eaton's products make cars more peppy, 18 wheelers safer to drive, and airliners more fuel efficient. So why haven't you heard of the company? Because Eaton sells its products not to end consumers but to other businesses. At Eaton, B-to-B marketing means working closely with customers to develop a better product. So the company partners with its sophisticated, knowledgeable clients to create total solutions that meet their needs. Along the way, Eaton maps the decision-making process to better understand the concerns and interests of decision makers. In the end, Eaton's

"You press the button-we do the rest." With that simple slogan, George Eastman unveiled the first Kodak camera in 1888-yes, 1888, more than 118 years ago. In 1900, Kodak launched its famous Brownie cameras, which it priced at $1.00, opening the photography market to millions. Throughout the twentieth century, Kodak dominated the photography business. By 2000, Kodak was one of the most recognized and trusted brands in the world. Many people referred to the company as "Big Yellow." The company saw

f. InnerSell.com then passes $3,500 of the winning vendor's finder's fee to the member who entered the winning lead. 1. At what stagets) of the business buying process does Innersell. corn operate? 2. What types of businesses is this best suited to serve? 3. What are some weaknesses with this technology?

1. Do you accept or decline the invitation?

\

2. Just because it is not specifically mentioned in the employee manual, would you be acting ethically if you accepted?

3. Do you think the supplier will expect "special" treatment in the next buying situation? 4. How would other company employees interpret your acceptance of this invitation?

success depends on its ability to provide high-quality, dependable customer service and product support. Through service and support, Eaton develops a clear understanding of consumer needs and builds stronger relationships with clients. After viewing the video featuring Eaton, answer the following questions about business markets and business buyer behavior. 1. What is Eaton's value proposition? 2. To which decision makers does Eaton market its products and services? 3. How does Eaton add value to its products and services?

itself as being in the memory business, not in the photography business. Despite its storied past, however, entering the new millennium, Kodak faced many new challenges that would require it to rethink and perhaps redesign its business strategy. The company's stock price, which had reached an historic peak of $90 in 1997, had been plummeting, and the company had begun to lay off workers.

Several factors were causing Kodak's problems. First, although Kodak had been the first company to produce a digital camera in 1976, it had been reluctant to develop the technology. The core of Kodak's business strategy had always been the three-fold foundation of commercial and consumer photography: film, photo-developing chemicals, and light-sensitive paper. Like many other companies, Kodak believed that consumers would be slow to adopt digital technology. But what held the company back even more was that a shift toward digital would to some extent have been a shift away from George Eastman's legacy. Thus, Kodak saw every digital camera consumers purchased as another nail in the coffin of the company's heart and soul. Second, despite Kodak's dominance in traditional photography, many competitors, especially Fuji, were exposing flaws in Kodak's marketing and stealing market share. Third, competition from an unexpected source-cellular phone manufacturers-surprised Kodak. Nokia introduced the first cellular phone with a built-in camera in November 2001. Although many people thought such phones would only be toys, consumers began snapping them up. By 2003, sales of camera phones doubled the sales of conventional digital cameras. Further, analysts predicted correctly that the number of cell phones with cameras would increase dramatically during the early 2000s. Finally, consumers who owned digital cameras or cellphone cameras were increasingly using their PCs and printers to download and print their own pictures, if they printed them at all. Analysts discovered that consumers printed only 2 percent of camera-phone pictures in the United States, versus 10 percent in Japan. Up through the 1980s, when consumers wanted to develop pictures, they took their film rolls to local drugstores, discount department stores, or photo shops. These stores sent the film to regional labs run by Kodak and others, which produced the prints and returned them to the store for pickup. This process took many days. Then, with the development of the self-contained photo lab, retailers could place a machine directly in their store that would do all the photo processing. These photo labs allowed the retailers to offer faster service-even one-hour service. As consumers demanded more one-hour photo developing, Kodak agreed to help Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, set up a national one-hour photo business. Kodak had been the exclusive supplier of photo-developing services to Walgreens for years. In response to the request, Kodak provided minilabs, which it bought from a Swiss manufacturer, that handled the photo developing on-site, collecting fees for leasing the equipment. Kodak even loaned Walgreens $31.6 million, interest free, to help it implement the system. Problems developed, however, when the minilabs proved to be unreliable. They broke down up to 11 times a month due to paper jams and software glitches. It often took two to three days to get the machines serviced, and when they were, customers' film in the machines was exposed to light when service people opened the machines.

As a result, in 2001, Walgreens quietly began to install Fuji minilabs in some of its California stores. Fuji's machines, in addition to handling traditional film, also allowed consumers to make prints from their digital cameras' memory devices, something Kodak's did not do. Kodak began selling kits to allow its minilabs to handle digital prints, but Walgreens officials believed Kodak's prints were lower quality. By early 2004, Fuji had 1,500 minilabs in Walgreens' almost 4,300 outlets. Walgreens also approached Kodak about developing a Walgreens Internet site that would allow consumers to upload digital photos over the Web. Kodak would then store images and allow customers to order prints, which would then be mailed to them. Walgreens did not like Kodak's proposal as it minimized the Walgreens role and allowed Kodak to keep the pictures on its site, gaining an advantage in future customer orders. Despite these concerns, Walgreens was about to sign a deal with Kodak when two top officials, who favored Kodak, retired. The company then nixed the deal and started developing its.own Web site with Fuji, which was comfortable with a less prominent role. Walgreens launched its Web service in 2003, with Fuji carrying out the photo developing. Given all this, in early 2003, Kodak reevaluated its strategy. It recognized that the time had come to fully embrace the digital age. In September 2003, Kodak announced a historic shift in its strategy. It would now focus on digital imaging for consumers, businesses, and health care providers. The company would reduce its dependence on traditional film, boost investment in nonphotographic markets, and pursue digital markets, such as inkjet printers and high-end digital printing. These moves would put it in direct competition with entrenched competitors, such as HP, Canon, Seiko, Epson, and Xerox. It was a necessary but risky shift-at the time, traditional film and photography accounted for 70 percent of Kodak's revenue and all of its operating profits. By 2004, Kodak had laid out a complete four-year restructuring plan. The plan was that Kodak's traditional business would progressively contribute less as a percentage of revenues and earnings while the digital business would contribute more. As a part of the shift in strategy, Kodak stopped selling reloadable film cameras in the United States, Canada, and Europe. In 2005, Kodak focused intensely on further executing the strategic plan. CEO Antonio Perez even asserted, "Soon, I'm not going to be answering questions about film because I won't know. It will be too small for me to get involved." Given the criticism that Kodak had taken for its sluggish move to a digital strategy, this was a welcome statement to many. CEO Perez made some dramatic moves. He divided the company into four distinct units: imaging, commercial print, medical, and traditional film. To assist in phasing out the film business and to stop the "bleeding year after year," (case continues)

Chapter 6 Business Markets and Business Buyer Behavior

179

=pJ' 4

ast year, Dunkin' Donuts paid dozens of faithful customers in Phoenix, Chicago, and Charlotte, North Carolina, $100 a week to buy coffee at " &?=dStarbucks instead. At the same time, the no-frills coffee chain paid Starbucks customers to make the opposite switch. When it later debriefed the two groups, Dunkin' says it found them so polarized that company researchers dubbed them "tribesweach of whom loathed the very things that made the other tribe loyal to their coffee shop. Dunkin' fans viewed Starbucks as pretentious and trendy, whereas Starbucks loyalists saw Dunkin' as plain and unoriginal. "I don't get it," one Dunkin' regular told researchers after visiting Starbucks. "If I want to sit on a couch, I stay at home." William Rosenberg opened the first Dunkin' Donuts in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1950. Residents flocked to his store each morning for the coffee and fresh doughnuts. Rosenberg started franchising the Dunkin' Donuts name, and the chain grew rapidly throughout the Midwest and Southeast. By the early 1990s, however, Dunkin' was losing breakfast sales to morning sandwiches at McDonald's and Burger King. Starbucks and other high-end cafes began sprouting up, bringing more competition. Sales slid as the company clung to its strategy of selling sugary doughnuts by the dozen. In the mid-1990s, however, Dunkin' shifted its focus from doughnuts to coffee in the hope that promoting a more frequently consumed item would drive store traffic. The coffee push worked-coffee now makes up 62 percent of sales. And Dunkin's sales are growing at a double-digit clip, with profits up 35 percent over the past two years. Based on this recent success, Dunkin' now has ambitious plans to expand into a national coffee powerhouse, on a par with Starbucks, the nation's largest coffee chain. Over the next three years, Dunkin' plans to remake its nearly 5,000 US. stores and to grow to triple that number in less than 15 years. But Dunkin' is not Starbucks. In fact, it doesn't want to be. To succeed, it must have its own clear vision of just which customers it wants to serve (what segments and targeting) and how (what positioning or value proposition). Dunkin' and Starbucks target very different customers, who want very different things from their favorite coffee shop. Starbucks is strongly positioned as a sort of high-brow "third place"-outside the home and office-featuring couches, eclectic music, wireless Internet access, and art-splashed walls. Dunkin' has a decidedly more low-brow, "everyman" kind of positioning. With its makeover, Dunkin' plans to move upscale-a bit but not too far-to rebrand itself as a quick but appealing alternative to specialty coffee shops and fastfood chains. A prototype Dunkin' store in Euclid, Ohio, outside Cleveland, features

rounded granite-style coffee bars, where workers make espresso drinks face-to-face with customers. Open-air pastry cases brim with yogurt parfaits and fresh fruit, and a carefully orchestrated pop-music soundtrack is piped throughout. Yet Dunkin' built itself on serving simple fare to working-class customers. Inching upscale without alienating that base will prove tricky. There will be no couches in the new stores. And Dunkin' renamed a new hot sandwich a "stuffed melt" after customers complained that calling it a "panini" was too fancy. "We're walking that [fine] line," says Regina Lewis, the chain's vice president of consumer insights. "The thing about the Dunkin' tribe is, they see through the hype." Dunkin's research showed that although loyal Dunkin' customers want nicer stores, they were bewildered and turned off by the atmosphere at Starbucks. They groused that crowds of laptop users made it difficult to find a seat. They didn't like Starbucks' "tall," "grande," and "venti" lingo for small, medium, and large coffees. And they couldn't understand why anyone would pay as much as $4 for a cup of coffee. "It was almost as though they were a group of Martians talking about a group of Earthlings," says an executive from Dunkin's ad agency. One customer told researchers that lingering in a Starbucks felt like "celebrating Christmas with people you don't know." The Starbucks customers that Dunkin' paid to switch were equally uneasy in Dunkin' shops. "The Starbucks people couldn't bear that they weren't special anymore," says the ad executive.

184

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix Such opposing opinions aren't surprising, given the differences in the two stores' customers. About 45 percent of Dunkin' Donuts customers have an annual household income between $45,000 and $100,000 a year, with 30 percent earning less than that and 25 percent earning more. Dunkin's customers include blue- and white-collar workers across all age, race, and income demographics. By contrast, Starbucks targets a higher-income, more professional group. But Dunkin' researchers concluded that it wasn't income that set the two tribes apart, as much as an ideal: Dunkin' tribe members want to be part of a crowd, whereas members of the Starbucks tribe want to stand out as individuals. "The Starbucks tribe, they seek out things to make them feel more important," says Dunkin' VP Lewis. Members of the Dunkin' Donuts tribe "don't need to be any more important than they are." Based on such findings, Dunkin' executives have made dozens of store-redesign decisions, big and small, ranging from where to put the espresso machines to how much of its signature pink and orange color scheme to retain to where to display its fresh baked goods. Out went the square laminate tables, to be replaced by round imitation-granite tabletops and sleek chairs. Dunkin' covered store walls in espresso brown and dialed down the pink and orange tones. Executives considered but held off on installing wireless Internet access because customers "just don't feel it's Dunkin' Donuts." Executives continue to discuss dropping the word "donuts" from its signs to convey that its menu is now broader. To grab a bigger share of customers, Dunkin' is expanding its menu beyond breakfast with hearty snacks that can substitute for meals, such as smoothies and dough-wrapped pork bites. The new Euclid store is doing three times the sales of other stores in its area, partly because more customers are coming after 11 A.M. for new gourmet cookies and Dunkin' Dawgs, hot dogs wrapped in dough. Focus groups liked hot flatbreads and smoothies, but balked at tiny pinwheels of dough stuffed with various fillings. Customers said "they felt like something at a fancy cocktail hour," says Lewis, and they weren't substantial enough. Stacey Stevens, a 34-year-old Euclid resident who recently visited the new Dunkin' prototype store, said she noticed it felt different than other Dunkin' locations. "I don't remember there being lots of music," she said, while picking up a dozen doughnuts. "I like it in here." She said it felt "more upbeat" than Starbucks. One Euclid store manager even persuaded Richard Wandersleben to upgrade from a regular coffee to a $2.39 latte during a recent visit. The 73- year-old retired tool-and-die maker, who drinks about three cups of coffee a dayresays the Dunkin' Donuts latte suited him fine. "It's a little creamier" than regular coffee, he said. Dunkin' knows that it'll take some time to refresh its image. And whatever else happens, it plans to stay true to the needs and preferences of the Dunkin' tribe. Dunkin's "not going after the Starbucks coffee snob," says one analyst, it's "going after the average Joe." Dunkin's positioning and value proposition are pretty well summed up in its new ad campaign, which features the slogan "America Runs on Dunkin'." The ads show everyone from office and construction workers to harried families relying on the chain to get them through their day. Says one ad, ''It's where everyday people get things done every day."l

Market segmentation Dividing a market into smaller groups with distinct needs, characteristics,or behaviors . who might require separate products or marketing mixes.

Companies today recognize that they cannot appeal to all buyers in the marketplace, or at least not to all buyers in the same way. Buyers are too numerous, too widely scattered, and too varied in their needs and buying practices. Moreover, the companies themselves vary widely in their abilities to serve different segments of the market. Instead, like Dunkin' Donuts, a company must identify the parts of the market that i t can serve best and most profitably. It must design customer-driven marketing strategies that b u i l d the right relationships with the right customers. Thus, most companies have moved away from mass marketing and toward target marketing-identifying market segments, selecting one or more o f them, and developing products and marketing programs tailored to each. Instead of scattering their marketing efforts (the "shotgun" approach), firms are focusing o n the buyers who have greater interest in the values they create best (the "rifle" approach). Figure 7.1 shows the four major steps in designing a customer-driven marketing strategy. In the first t w o stpes, the company selects the customers that it w i l l serve. Market segmentstion involves dividing a market into smaller groups of buyers w i t h distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviors w h o might require separate products or marketing mixes. The company

Chapter 7

F

Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

7.1 Steps in market segmentation, targeting, and positioning

j Market targeting The process of evaluating each market segment's attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter. Differentiation Actually differentiating the firm's market offering to create superior customer value. Positioning Arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers.

185

targeted

customers

l

identifies different ways to segment the market and develops profiles of the resulting market segments. Market targeting (or targeting) consists of evaluating each market segment's attractiveness and select one or more market segments to enter. In the final two steps, the company decides on a value proposition-on how it will create value for target customers. Differentiation involves actually differentiating the firm's market offering to create superior customer value. Positioning consists of arranging for a market offering to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers. We discuss each of these steps in turn.

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 t v unique needs. In this section, we discuss four important segmentation topics: segmenting consumer markets, segmenting business markets, segmenting international markets, -and requirements for effective segmentation.

There is no single way to segment a market. A marketer has to try different segmentation variables, alone and in combination, to find the best way to view the market structure. Table 7.1 outlines the major variables that might be used in segmenting consumer markets. Here we look at the major geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables.

.

Geographic segmentation Dividing a market into differentgeographical units such as nations, states, regions, counties, cities, or neighborhoods.

Geographic segmentation calls for dividing the market into different geographical units such as nations, regions, states, counties, cities, or even 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, one consumer products company shipped additional cases of its low-calorie snack foods to stores in neighborhoods near Weight Watchers clinics. Kraft developed Post's Fiesta Fruity Pebbles cereal for areas with high Hispanic populations. Coca-Cola developed four ready-to-drink canned coffees for the Japanese market, each targeted to a specific geographic region. Procter & Gamble introduced Curry Pringles in England and Funky Soy Sauce Pringles in Asia.' Other companies are seeking to cultivate as-yet untapped geographic territory. For example, many large companies are fleeing the fiercely competitive major cities and suburbs to set up shop in small-town America. Consider Applebee's, the nation's largest casual-dining chain:

Applebee's is now making sure that even far-flung suburbs and small towns can have a neighborhood bar and grill. It's extending into what it calls STAR (small-town Applebee's restaurant) markets with fewer that 50,000 people, breaking down the misconception that small-market Americans aren't interested in anything that can't be bought at Wal-Mart (or its restaurant equivalent). How's the strategy working? Just check out the dozen or more parties lined up on a typical Friday night outside the Applebee's in Hays, Kansas, a small town of 21,000 people located in an area known

Part 3

186

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

7.1 Major Segmentation Variables for Consumer Markets

Geographic

World region or country Country region City or metro size

Density Climate Demographic

North America, Western Europe, Middle East, Pacific Rim, China, India, Canada, Mexico Pacific, Mountain, West North Central, West South Central, East North Central, East South Central, South Atlantic, Middle Atlantic, New England Under 5,000; 5,000-20,000; 20,000-50,000; 50,000-100,000; 100,000-250,000; 250,000-500,000; 500,000-1,000,000; 1,000,000-4,000,000; over 4,000,000 Urban, suburban, rural Northern, southern - --.-- - _--- Under 6,6-11, 12-19, 20-34, 35-49, 50-64, 65+ Male, female 1-2,3-4, 5+ Young, single; young, married, no children; young, married with children; older, married with children; older, married, no children; under 18; older, single; other Under $10,000; $10,000-$20,000; $20,000-$30,000; $30,000-$50,000; $50,000-$100,000; $100,000 and over Professional and technical; managers, officials,and proprietors; clerical; sales; craftspeople; supervisors; operatives; farmers; retired; students; homemakers; unemployed Grade school or less; some high school; high school graduate; some college; college graduate Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, other Asian, Hispanic, Black, White Baby boomer, Generation XI Generation Y North American, South American, British, French, German, Italian, Japanese

Age Gender Family size Family life cycle Income Occupation Education Religion Race Generation Nationality Psychographic

.......

_ ..

__ ..

Lower lowers, upper lowers, working class, middle class, upper middles, lower uppers, upper uppers Achievers, strivers, survivors Compulsive, gregarious, authoritarian, ambitious

Social class Lifestyle Personality Behavioral ...........

- ...................

-

. . -.........

Occasions Benefits User status User rates Loyalty status Readiness stage Attitude toward product

---- .....--

..................................................

Regular occasion; special occasion Quality,service, economy, convenience, speed Nonuser, ex-user, potential user, first-time user, regular user Light user, medium user, heavy user None, medium, strong, absolute Unaware, aware, informed, interested, desirous, intending to buy Enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, negative, hostile

as "the middle of nowhere" between Denver and Kansas City. Although sales in such smaller communities average 10 percent less than at a suburban Applebee's, that's offset by cheaper real estate and less-complicated zoning laws. And there is no real casual-dining competition in Hays. No Chili's. No Houlihan's. Not even a Bennigan's. "If you want to take someone out on a date," says one young diner, "you're not going to take them to the Golden Corral,'' an all-you-can-eat family restaurant next door. That's a telling statement, given that the young man is a management trainee at the Golden Corral. So far, Applebee's has opened some 156 small-town restaurants. Considering that there are about 2,200 counties in the Uaited States with populations under 50,000, it has a lot more room to grow.3 In contrast, other retailers are developing new store concepts that will give them access to higher-density urban areas. For example, Home Depot has been introducing urban: neighbor-

Chapter 7 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

187

hood stores that look a lot like its traditional stores but at about two-thirds the size. It is placing these stores in high-density markets, such as Manhattan, where full-size stores are impractical. Similarly, Wal-Mart has been opening small, supermarket-style Neighborhood Market grocery stores to complement its super center^.^

'

Demographic segmentation Dividing a market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generation, and nationality. Age and life-cycle segmentation Dividing a market into different age and life-cycle groups.

Gender segmentation Dividing a market into different groups based on gender.

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 rates 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. Consumer needs and wants change with age. Some companies use age and life-cycle segmentation,aoffering different products or using different marketing approaches for different age and life-cycle groups. For example, for kids, Procter & Gamble sells Crest Spinbrushes featuring favorite children's characters. For adults, it sells more serious models, promising "a dentist-clean feeling twice a day." And Nintendo, long known for its youth-oriented video games, has launched a subbrand, Touch Generations, which targets aging baby boomers. Touch Generations offers video games such as Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?, designed to "exercise the noggin" and keep the mind young. The aim is to "lure in older nongamers by offering skill-building-or at least less violent, less fantasy-based-titles that might appeal to [older consumers] more than, say, Grand Theft Auto or World of Warcraft."5 Marketers must be careful to guard against stereotypes when using age and life-cycle segmentation. For example, although some 70-year-olds 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., Companies marketing to mature consumers usually employ positive images and appeals. For example, ads for Olay ProVitaldesigned to improve the elasticity and appearance of the "maturing skin" of women over 50feature attractive older spokeswomen and uplifting messages.

. - Gender segmentation has long been used in clothing, cosmetics, toiletries, and magazines. For example, Procter & Gamble was among the first with Secret, a brand specially formulated for a woman's chemistry, packaged and advertised to reinforce the female image. More recently, many mostly women's cosmetics makers have begun marketing men's lines. For example, L'Oreal offers Men's Expert skin care products and a VrVE For Men grooming line. Ads proclaim, "Now L'Oreal Paris brings its grooming technology and expertise to men . . . because you're worth it too." Nike has recently stepped up its efforts to capture the women's sports apparel market. It wasn't until 2000 that Nike made women's shoes using molds made from women's feet, rather than simply using a small man's foot mold. Since then, however, Nike has changed its approach to women. It has overhauled its women's apparel line-called Nikewomen-to create better fitting, more colorful, more fashionable workout clothes for women. Its revamped Nikewomen.com Web site now features the apparel, along with workout trend highlights. And Nike has been opening Nikewomen stores in several major c i t i e ~ . ~ -A growing number of Web sites and media networks also target women, such as ivillage, E3 Gender segmentation: Nike has recently stepped up its efforts to capture the Oxygen, Lifetime, and WE. For example, WE TV women's sports apparel market by overhauling its women's apparel Lines, revamping is "the network dedicated to helping women the Nikewornen.com Web site, and opening Nikewomen stores in several major cities.

188

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

connect to one another and the world around them." Its WE Empowers Women initiative helps women "find your voice and feel good doing it" by supporting causes that are important to women.7 . .

Income segmentation Dividing a market into different income groups.

Psychographic segmentation Dividing a market into different groups based on social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics.

E d The American Express "My life. My card." campaign provides glimpses into the lifestyles of famous people with whom consumers might identify, here Ellen DeGeneres.

Income segmentation has long been used by the marketers of products and services such as automobiles, clothing, cosmetics, financial services, and travel. Many companies target affluent consumers with luxury goods and convenience services. Stores such as Neiman Marcus pitch everythLng from expensive jewelry and fine fashions to glazed Australian apricots priced at $20 a pound. And credit-card companies offer superpremium credit cards dripping with perks, such as VISA'S Signature Card, Mastercard's World card, and American Express's superelite Centurion card. The much-coveted black Centurian card is issued by invitation only, to customers who spend more than $250,000 a year on other AmEx cards. Then, the select few who do receive the card pay a $2,500 annual fee just for the privilege of carrying it. However, not all companies that use income segmentation target the affluent. For example, many retailers-such as the Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree store chainssuccessfully target low- and middle-income groups. The core market for such stores is families with incomes under $30,000. When Family Dollar real-estate experts scout locations for new stores, they look for lower-middle-class neighborhoods where people wear less expensive shoes and drive old cars that drip a lot of oil. With their low-income strategies, the dollar stores are now the fastest growing retailers in the nation. They have been so successful that giant discounters are taking notice. For example, Target has installed a dollar aisle-the "1SpotH-in its stores. And supermarkets such as Kroger to A&P are launching "10 for $10" promotions. And some experts predict that, to meet the dollar store threat, Wal-Mart will eventually buy one of these chains or start one of its own8

Psychographic segmentation divides buyers into different groups based on social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics. People in the same demographic group can have very different psychographic makeups. In Chapter 5, we discussed how the products people buy reflect their lifestyles. As a result, marketers often segment their markets by consumer lifestyles and base their marketing strategies on lifestyle appeals. For example, American Express promises "a card that fits your life." It's "My life. My card." campaign provides glimpses into the lifestyles of famous people with whom consumers might want to identify, from pro surfer Laird Hamilton and television personality Ellen DeGeneres to screen stars Robert DeNiro and Kate Winslet. Pottery Barn, with its different store formats, sells more than just home furnishings. It sells all that its customers aspire to be. Pottery Barn Kids offers idyllic scenes of the perfect childhood,

Chapter 7 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

189

whereas PB Teens offers trendy fashion-forward self-expression. The flagship Pottery Barn stores serve an upscale yet casual, family- and fiiend-focused lifestyle-affluent but sensibly SO? Shortly after Hadley MacLean got married, she and her husband, Doug, agreed that their old bed had to go. It was a mattress and box spring on a cheap metal frame, a relic of Doug's Harvard days. But Hadley never anticipated how tough it would be to find a new bed. "We couldn't find anything we liked, even though we were willing to spend the money," says Hadley, a 31-year-old marketing director. It turned out to be much more than just finding a piece of furniture at the right price. It was a matter of emotion: They needed a bed that meshed with their lifestyle-with who they are and where they are going. The couple finally ended up at the Pottery Barn on Boston's upscale Newbury Street, where Doug fell in love with a mahogany sleigh bed that Hadley had spotted in the store's catalog. The couple was so pleased with how great it looked in their Dutch Colonial home that they hurried back to the store for a set of end tables. And then they bought a quilt. And a mirror for the living room. And some stools for the dining room. "We got kind of addicted," Hadley confesses.

segmentation Dividing a market into groups based on consumer knowledge, attitude, use, or . response to a product.

Dividing a market into groups accordingto occasionswhen : buyers get the idea to buy, actuallymake theirpurchase, or use the purchased item. Benefit segmentation Dividing a market into groups accordingto the different benefits that consumers seek from the product.

Marketers also have used~personalityvariablesto segment markets. For example, marketing for Honda motor scooters appears to target hip and trendy 22-year-olds. But it is actually aimed at a much broader personality group. One old ad, for example, showed a delighted child bouncing up and down on his bed while the announcer says, "You've been trying to get there all your life." The ad reminded viewers of the euphoric feelings they got when they broke away from authority and did things their parents told them not to do. Thus, Honda is appealing to the rebellious, independent kid in all of us. In fact, 22 percent of scooter riders are retirees. Competitor Vespa sells more than a quarter of its scooters to the over-50 set. "The older buyers are buying them for kicks," says one senior. "They never had the opportunity to do this as kids."1•‹ U

Behavioral segmentation divides buyers into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product. Many marketers believe that behavior variables are the best starting point for building market segments. Buyers can be grouped according to occasions when they get the idea to buy, actually make their purchase, or use the purchased item. Occasion segmentation can help firms build up product usage. For example, eggs are most often consumed at breakfast. But the American Egg Board, with its "incredible, edible egg" theme, promotes eating eggs at all times of the day. Its Web site offers basic egg facts and lots of recipes for egg appetizers, snacks, main dishes, and desserts. Some holidays, such as Mother's Day and to Father's Day, yere originally promoted increase the sale of candy, flowers, cards, and other gifts. And many marketers prepare special offers and ads for holiday occasions. For example, Altoids offers a special "Love Tin," the "curiously strong valentine." Peeps creates different shaped sugar and fluffy marshmallow treats for Easter, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and Christmas when it captures most of its sales but advertises that Peeps are "Always in Season" to increase the demand for non-holiday occasions.

Bl Occasion segmentation: Peeps creates different shaped marshmallow treats for special holidays when it captures most of its sales but advertises that Peeps are "Always in Season" to increase the demand for non-holiday occasions.

A powerful form of segmentation is to group buyers according to the different benefits that they seek from the product. Benefit segmentation requires finding the major benefits people look for in the product class, the kinds of people who look for each benefit, and the major brands that deliver each benefit. Champion athletic wear segments its markets according to benefits that different consumers seek from their activewear. For example,

190

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix "Fit and Polish" consumers seek a balance between function and style-they exercise for results but want to look good doing it. "Serious Sports Competitors" exercise heavily and live in and love their activewear-they seek performance and function. By contrast, "ValueSeeking Moms" have low sports interest and low activewear involvement-they buy for the family and seek durability and value. Thus, each segment seeks a different mix of benefits. Champion must target the benefit segment or segments that it can serve best and most profitably using appeals that match each segment's benefit preferences. t

--*>-.sr+

a:. -;$ Markets can be segmented into nonusers, ex-users, potential users, first-time users, and regular users of a product. For example, blood banks cannot rely only on regular donors. They must also recruit new first-time donors and remind ex-donors-each will require different marketing appeals. Included in the potential user group are consumers facing life-stage changes-such as newlyweds and new parents-who can be turned into heavy users. For example, P&G acquires the names of parents-to-be and showers them with product samples and ads for its Pampers and other baby products in order to capture a share of their future purchases. It invites them to visit Pampers.com and join MyPampers.com, giving them access to expert parenting advice, Parent Pages e-mail newsletters, and coupons and special offers. E Z~

.&

Markets can also be segmented into.light, medium, and heavy product users. Heavy users are often a small percentage of the market but account for a high percentage of total consumption. For example, fast-feeder Burger King targets what it calls "Super Fans," young (age 18 to 34), Whopper-wolfing males who make up 18 percent of the chain's customers but account for almost half of all customer visits. They eat at Burger King an average of 16 times a month.'' Burger King targets these Super Fans openly with ads that exalt monster burgers containing meat, cheese, and more meat and cheese that can turn "innies into outies." It's "Manthem" ad parodies the Helen Reddy song "I Am Woman." In the ad, young Super Fans who are "too hungry to settle for chick food" rebel by burning their briefs, pushing a minivan off a bridge, chowing down on decadent Texas Double Whoppers, and proclaiming "Eat like a man, man!" Although such ads puzzled many a casual fast-food patron, they really pushed the hungry buttons of Burger King's heavy users. Despite claims by some consumers that the fast-food chains are damaging their health, these heavy users are extremely loyal. "They insist they don't need saving," says one analyst, "protesting that they are far from the clueless fatties anti-fast-food activists make them out to be." Even the heaviest users "would have to be stupid not to know that you can't eat only burgers and fries and not exercise," he says.12 A market can also be segmented by consumer loyalty. Consumers can be loyal to brands (Tide),stores (Nordstrom),and companies (Toyota).Buyers can be divided into groups according to their degree of loyalty. Some consumers are completely loyal-they buy one brand all the time. For example, Apple has a small but almost cultlike following of loyal, users:13

Consumer loyalty: "Macolytes"-fanatically loyal Apple users-helped keep Apple 8loat during the lean years, and they are now at the forefront of Apple's burgeoning iPod and iTunes empire.

It's the "Cult of the Mac," and it's populated by "macolytes." Urbandictionary. com defines a macolyte as "One who is fanatically devoted to Apple products, especially the Macintosh computer. Also known as a Mac Zealot." (Sample usage: "He's a macolyte; don't even *think* of mentioning Microsoft within earshot.") How about Anna Zisa, a graphic designer from Milan who doesn't really like tattoos but stenciled an Apple tat on her behind. "It just felt like the most me thing ,to have," says ~ i s a"I . like computers. The apple looks good and sexy. kI the comments I have heard have been positive, even from Linux and Windows users."

Chapter 7 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

191

And then there's Taylor Barcroft, who has spent the past 11 years traveling the country in an RV on a mission to be the Mac cult's ultimate "multimedia historical videographer." He goes to every Macworld Expo, huge trade shows centered on the Mac, as well as all kinds of other tech shows-and videotapes anythulg and everything Apple. He's accumulated more thah 3,000 hours of footage. And he's never been paid a dime to do any of this, living offan inheritance. Barcroft owns 1 7 Macs. Such fanatically loyal users helped keep Apple afloat during the lean years, and they are now at the forefront of Apple's burgeoning Pod-iTunes empire. Others consumers are somewhat loyal-they are loyal to two or three brands of a given product or favor one brand while sometimes buying others. Still other buyers show no loyalty to any brand. They either want something different each time they buy or they buy whatever's on sale. A company can learn a lot by analyzing loyalty patterns in its market. It should start by studying its own loyal customers. For example, by studying "macolytes," Apple can better pinpoint its target market and develop marketing appeals. By studying its less loyal buyers, the company can detect which brands are most competitive with its o w . By looking at customers who are shifting away from its brand, the company can learn about its marketing weaknesses.

Marketers rarely limit their segmentation analysis to only one or a few variables. Rather, they are increasingly using multiple segmentation bases in an effort to identify smaller, betterdefined target groups. Thus, a bank may not only identify a group of wealthy retired adults but also, within that group, distinguish several segments based on their current income, assets, savings and risk preferences, housing, and lifestyles. One good example of multivariab~e.segmentation is ~'geodemographic" segmentation. Several as Claritas, business information services-such Experian, Acxiom, and MapInfo-have arisen to help marketing planners link U.S. Census and consumer transaction data with consumer lifestyle patterns to better segment their markets down to zip codes, neighborhoods, and even households. One of the leading lifestyle segmentation systems is the PRIZM NE (New Evolutionj system by Claritas. The PRIZM NE system classifies every American household based on a host of demographic factors-such as age, educational level, income, occupation, family composition, ethnicity, and housing-and behavioral and lifestyle factors-such as purchases, free-time activities, and media preferences. Using PRIZM NE, marketers can use where you live to paint a surprisingly precise picture of who you are and what you might buy:

@ Using Claritast PRIZM NE system, marketers can paint a surprisingly precise picture of who you are and what you might buy. PRIZM N E segments carry such exotic names as "Kids & Cul-de-Sacs,""Gray Power," "Blue Blood Estates," 'Shotguns & Pickups," and "Bright Lites Cil City."

You're a 23-year-old first-generation college graduate, working as a marketing assistant in a small publishing company. Starting on the bottom rung of the job ladder, you make just enough money to chip in your half of the rent for a no-frills, walk-up apartment you share downtown with an old college friend. You drive a one-year-old Kia Spectra and spend your Friday nights socializing at the local nightclubs. Instead of cooking, you'd much rather order pizza from Papa John's and eat a few slices as you watch a rerun of T h e Mind of Mencia on Comedy

192

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix Central. You spend most Sunday afternoons doing laundry at the local laundromat, while drinking your usual large cup of coffee from the caf6 down the block and reading a recent issue of Spin. You're living out your own, individual version of the good life. You're unique-not some demographic clich6. Right? Wrong. You're a prime example of PRIZM NE's "City Startups" segment. If you consume, you can't hide from Claritas.l4PRIZM NE classifies U.S. households intcr. 66 unique segments, organized into 14 different social groups. PRIZM NE segments carry such!exotic names as "Kids & Cul-de-Sacs," "Gray Power," "Blue Blood Estates," "Mayberry-ville," "Shotguns & Pickups," "Old Glories," "Multi-Culti Mosaic," "Big City Blues," and "Bright Lites L'il City." "Those image-triggered nicknames save a lot of time and geeky technical research terms explaining what you mean," says one marketer. "It's the names that bring the clusters to life," says another.15 Regardless of what you call the categories, such systems can help marketers to segment pear ple and locations into marketable groups of like-minded consumers. Each segment exhibits unique characteristics and buying behavior. For example, "Blue Blood Estates" neighborhoods, part of the Elite Suburbs social group, are suburban areas populated by elite, superrich families. People in this segment are more likely to take a golf vacation, watch major league soccer, eat at fast-food restaurants picked by kids, and read Fortune. In contrast, the "Shotguns & PickupsJ'segment, part of the Middle America social group, is populated by rural blue-collar workers and families. People in this segment are more likely to go hunting, buy hard rock music, drive a GMC Sierra 2500, watch the Daytona 500 01a TV, and read Field & Stream. Such segmentation provides a powerful tool for marketers of all kinds. It c help companies to identify and better un derstand key customer segmenits , i3.Icget them m i effi- ; ciently, and tailor market o~ff€ trin~gsand mes [es to their specific needs.

Segmenting Business Markets

El Segmenting business markets: For small business customers, American

Express has created the OPEN: Small Business Network, "the one place that's all about small business."

Consumer and business marketers use many of the same variables to segment their markets. Business buyers can be segmented geographically, demographically (industry, company size), or by benefits sought, user status, usage rate, and loyalty status. Yet, business marketers also use some additional variables, such as customer operating characteris- . ;tics, purchasing approaches, situational factors, an& personal characteristics. - By going after segments instead of the whole market, companies can deliver just the right value proposition to each segment served and capture more value in return. Almost every company serves at least some business markets. For example, we've discussed American Express as the "My life. My card." company that offers credit cards to end consumers. But American Express also targets businesses in three segments-merchants, corporations, and small businesses. It has developed distinct marketing programs for each segment. In the merchants segment, American Express focuses on convincing new merchants to accept the card and on managing relationships with those that already do. For larger corporate customers, the company offers a corporate card program, which includes extensive employee expense and travel management services. It also offers this segment a wide range of asset management, retirement planning, and financial education services. Finally, for small business customers, American Express has created the OPEN: Small Business

Chapter 7 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

193

Network, "the one place that's all about small business." Small business cardholders can access the network for everything from account and expense management software to expert small business management advice and connecting with other small business owners to share ideas and get recommendations.16 Many companies set up separate systems for dealing with larger or multiple-location customers. For example, Steelcase, a major producer of office furniture, first segments customers into 10 industries, including banking, insurance, and electronics. Next, company salespeople work with independent Steelcase dealers to handle smaller, local, or regional Steelcase customers in each segment. But many national, multiple-location customers, such as ExxonMobil or IBM, have special needs that may reach beyond the scope of individual dealers. So Steelcase uses national accounts managers to help its dealer networks handle its national accounts. Within a given target industry and customer size, the company can segment by pychase approaches and criteria. As i n consumer segmentation, many marketers believe that'buying behavior and benefits provide the best basis for segmenting business markets.

-

Few companies have either the resources or the will to operate in all, or even most, of the countries that dot the globe. Although some large companies, such as Coca-Cola or Sony, sell products in more than 200 countries, most international firms focus on a smaller set. Operating in many countries presents new challenges. Different countries, even those that are close together, can vary greatly in their economic, cultural, and political makeup. Thus, just as they do within their domestic markets, international firms need to group their world markets into segments with distinct buying needs and behaviors. . Companies can segment international markets using one or a combination of several variables. They can segment by geographic location, grouping countries by regions such as Western Europe, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, or Africa. Geographic segmentation assumes that nations close to one another will have many common traits and behaviors. Although this is often the case, there are many exceptions. For example, although the United States and Canada have much in common, both differ culturally and economically from neighboring Mexico. Even within a region, consumers can differ widely. For example, some lntermarket segmentation U.S. marketers lump all Central and South American countries together. However, the Forming segments of Dominican Republic is no more like Brazil than Italy is like Sweden. Many Central and SoutIi consumers who have similar Americans don't even speak Spanish, including 140 million Portuguese-speaking Brazilians needs and buying behavior and the millions in other countries who speak a variety of Indian dialects. even though they are located World markets can also be segmented on the basis of economic factors. For example, in different countries. countries might be grouped by..population income levels or by their overall level of economic : development. A country's economic structure shapes its population's product and service needs and, therefore, the marketing opportuni" ties it offers. Countries can be segmented by political and legal factors such as the type and stability of government, receptivity to foreign firms, monetary regulations, and the amount of bureaucracy. Such factors can play a crucial role in a company's choice of which countries to enter and how. Cultural factors can also be used, grouping markets according to common languages, religions, values and attitudes, customs, and behavioral patterns. Segmenting international markets based on geographic, economic, political, cultural, and I other factors assumes that segments should consist of clusters of countries. However, many companies use a different approach called intermarket segmentation. They form segments Intermarket segmentation: Teens show surprising similarity no matter where of consumers who have similar needs and buying behavior even though they are located in they live-these teens could be from almost anywhere. Thus, many companies different countries. For example, Mercedestarget teens with worldwide marketing campaigns. '

,

194

Part 3 Designing a Custorner-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix Benz targets the world's well-to-do, regardless of their country. And Swedish furniture giant IKEA targets the aspiring global middle class-it sells good-quality furniture that ordinary people worldwide can afford. MTV targets the world's teenagers. The world's 1.2 billion teens have a lot in common: They study, shop, and sleep. They are exposed to many of the same major issues: love, crime, homelessness, ecology, and working parents. In many ways, they have more in common with each other than with their parents. "Last year I was in 1 7 different countries," says one expert, "and it's pretty difficult to find anything that is different, other than language, among a teenager in Japan, a teenager in the UK, and a teenager in China." Says another, "Global teens in Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Bangalore swing to the beat of MTV while sipping Coke." MTV bridges the gap between cultures, appealing to what teens around the world have in common. Sony, Adidas, Nike, and many other firms also actively target global teens. For example, Adidas's "Impossible Is Nothing" theme appeals to teens the world over.17

Requiremnts for Effective Segmentation Clearly, there are many ways to segment a market, but not all segmentations are effective. For example, buyers of table salt could be divided into blond and brunette customers. But hair,. color obviously does not affect the purchase of salt. Furthermore, if all salt buyers bought the same amount of salt each month, believed that all salt is the same, and wanted to pay the s m e price, the company would not benefit from segmenting this market. To be useful, market segments must be

Measurable: The size, purchasing power, and profiles of the segments can be measured. Certain segmentation variables are difficult to measure. For example, there are 32.5 million left-handed people in the United States-almost equaling the entire population of Canada. Yet few products are targeted toward this left-handed segment. The major problem may be that the segment is hard to identify and measure. There are no data on the demographics of lefties, and the U.S. Census Bureau does not keep track of left-handedness in its surveys. Private data companies keep reams of statistics on other demographic segments but not on left-handers. e! Accessible: The market segments can be effectively reached and served.' Suppose a fragrance company finds that heavy users of its brand are single men and women who stay out late and socialize a lot. Unless this group lives or shops at certain places and is exposed to certain media, its members will be difficult to reach. :& Substantial: The market segments are large or. profitable enough to serve. A segment should be the largest possible homogenous group worth pursuing with a tailored marketing program. It would not pay, for example, for an automobile manufacturer to develop cars especially for people whose height is greater than seven feet. Difjerentiable:The segments are conceptually distinguishable and respond differently to different marketing mix elements and pro: grams. If married and unmarried women respond similarly to a sale on perfume, they do not constitute separate segments. .Actionable: Effective programs can be designed for attracting and serving the segments. For example, although one small airB4 The "Lef!iemsegment can be hard to identify and measure. As a result, few line identified seven market segments, its companies tailor their offers to left-handers. However, some nichers such as staff was too small to develop separate marAnything Left-Handed in the United Kingdom targets this segment. keting programs for each segment. %. '

Chapter 7 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

195

Market segmentation reveals the firm's market segment opportunities. The hrm now must evaluate the various segments and decide how many and which segments it can serve best., We now look at how companies evaluate and select target segments. .

In evaluating different market segments, a firm must look at three factors: segment size and growth, segment structural attractiveness, and company objectives and resources. The company must first collect and analyze data on current segment sales, growth rates, and expected profitability for various segments. It will be interested in segments that have the right size and growth characteristics. But "right size and growth" is a relative matter. The largest, fastestgrowing segments are not always the most attractive ones for every company. Smaller companies may lack the skills and resources needed to serve the larger segments. Or they may find these segments too competitive. Such companies may target segments that are smaller and less attractive, in an absolute sense, but that are potentially more profitable for them. The company also needs to examine major structural factors that affect long-run segment attractiveness.'* For example, a segment is less attractive if it already contains many strong and aggressive competitors. The existence of many actual or potential substitute products. may limit prices and the profits that can be earned i n a segment. The relative power of buyers also affects segment attractiveness. Buyers with strong bargaining power relative to sellers will try to force prices down, demand more services, and set competitors against one another-all at the expense of seller profitability. Finally, a segment may be less attractive if it contains poweqful suppliers who can control prices or reduce the quality or quantity of ordered goods and services. Even if a segment has the right size and growth and is structurally attractive, the company must consider its own objectives and resources. Some attractive segments can be dismissed quickly because they do not mesh with the company's long-run objectives. Or the company may lack the skills and resources needed to succeed in an attractive segment. The company should enter only segments in which it can offer superior value and gain advantages over competitors.

After evaluating different segments, the company must now decide which and how many segments it will target. A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve. A set of buyers sharing Because buyers have unique needs and wants, a seller could potentially view each buyer common needs or as a separate target market. Ideally, then, a seller might design a separate marketing program characteristics that the for each buyer. However, although some companies do attempt to serve buyers individually, company decides to serve. most face larger numbers of smaller buyers and do not find individual targeting worthwhile. Instead, they look for broader segments of buyers. More generally, market targeting can be carried out at several different levels. Figure 7.2 shows that companies can target very broadly . (undifferentiated marketing), very narrowly (micromarketing), or somewhere in between (difUndifferentiated (mass). : ferentiated or concentrated marketing).

Target market

,,

marketing

A market-coverage strategy in which a firm decides to ignore market segment differences and go after the whole market with one offer.

FH

Using an undifferentiated marketing (or mass-marketing) strategy, a firm might decide to ignore market segment differences and target the whole market with one offer., This mass,' marketing strategy focuses on what is common in the needs of consumeris rather than on what

7.2

Target marketing strategies

Targeting broadly

Targeting narrowly

196

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

is difierent. The company designs a product and a marketing program that will appeal to the largest number of buyers. As noted earlier in the chapter, most modern marketers have strong doubts about this strategy. Difficulties arise in developing a product or brand that will satisfy all consumers. Moreover, mass marketers often have trouble competing with more-focused firms that do a better job of satisfying the needs of specific segments and niches.

Differentiated (segmented) marketing A market-coverage strategy in which a firm decides to target several market segments and designs separate offers for each.

Using a differentiated marketing (cir segmented marketing) strategy, a firm decides to target several market segments and designs separate offers for each1 General Motors tries to produce a car for every "purse, purpose, and personality." Gap Inc. has created four different retail store formats-Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and it's most recent addition, Forth & Towne-to serve the varied needs of different fashion segments. And Est6e Lauder offers hundreds of different products aimed at carefully defined segments: Est6e Lauder is an expert in creating differentiated brands that serve the tastes of different market segments. Five of the top-ten best-selling prestige perfumes in the United States belong to Est6e Lauder. So do eight of the top-ten prestige makeup brands. There's the original Est6e Lauder brand, with its gold and blue packaging, which appeals to older, 501 baby boomers. Then there's Clinique, the company's most popular brand, perfect for the middle-aged mom with no.time to waste and for younger women attracted to its classic free gift offers. For young, fashion-forward consumers, there's M.A.C., which provides makeup for clients like Pamela Anderson and Marilyn Manson. For the young and trendy, there's the Stila line, containing lots of shimmer and uniquely packaged in clever containers. And, for the New Age type, there's upscale Aveda, with its salon, makeup, and lifestyle products, based on the art and science of earthy origins and pure flower and plant essences, celebrating the connection between Mother Nature and human nature.lg By offering product and marketing variations to segments, companies hope fbr higher sales and a stronger position within each market segment. Developing a stronger position within several segments creates more total sales than undifferentiated marketing across all segments. Est6e Lauder's combined brands give it a much greater market share than any single brand could. The Est6e Lauder and Clinique brands alone reap a combined 40 percent share of the prestige cosmetics market. Similarly, Procter & Gamble markets six different brands of laundry detergent, which compete with each other on supermarket shelves. Yet together, these multiple brands capture four times the market share of nearest rival Unilever (see Real Marketing 7.1). But differentiated marketing also increases the costs of doing business. A firm usually finds it more expensive to develop and produce, say, 10 units of 10 different products than 100 units of one product. Developing separate marketing plans for the separate segments requires extra marketing research, forecasting, sales analysis, promotion planning, and channel

Differentiated marketing: Estee Lauder offers hundreds of different products aimed a t carefully defined segments, from i t s original Estee Lauder brand appealing t o age 50+ baby boomers t o Aveda, with earthy origins that appeal t o younger new age types.

Chapter 7 Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

197

management. And trying to reach different market segments with different advertising increases promotion costs. Thus, the company must weigh increased sales against increased costs when deciding on a differentiated marketing strategy.

Concentrated (niche) marketing , A market-coverage strategy In which a firm goes after a ' large share of one or a few segments or niches.

A third market-coverage strategy, concentrated ,marketing (or niche marketing),is especially appealing when company resources are limited. Instead of going after a small share of a large market, the firm goes after a large share of one or a few smaller segments or niches.-For example, Oshkosh Truck is the world's largest producer of airport rescue trucks and front-loading concrete mixers. Tetra sells 80 percent of the world's tropical fish food, and Steiner Optical captures 80 percent of the world's military binoculars market. Through concentrated marketing, the firm achieves a strong market position because of its greater knowledge of consumer needs in the-niches it serves and the special reputation it acquires. It can'market more effectively by fine-tuning its products, prices, and programs to the needs of carefully defined segments. It can also market more eficiently, targeting its products or services, channels, and communications programs toward only consumers that it can serve best and most profitably. Whereas segments are fairly large and normally attract several competitors, niches are smaller and may attract only one or a few competitors. Niching offers smaller companies an opportunity to compete by focusing their limited resources on serving niches that may be unimportant to or overlooked by larger competitors. Consider Apple Computer. Although it once enjoyed a better than 13 percent market share, Apple is now a PC market nicher, capturing less than 2 percent of the personal computer market worldwide. Rather than competing head-on with other PC makers as they slash prices and focus on volume, Apple invests in research and development, making it the industry trendsetter. For example, when the company introduced the iPod and iTunes, it captured more than 70 percent of the music download market. Such innovation has created a loyal base of consumers who are willing to pay more for Apple's cutting edge products.20 Many companies start as nichers to get a foothold against larger, more resourceful competitors, then grow into broader competitors. For example, Southwest Airlines began by serving intrastate, no-frills commuters in Texas but is now one of the nation's largest airlines. In contrast, as markets change, some megamarketers develop niche markets to create sales growth. For example, in recent years, Pepsi has introduced several niche products, such as Sierra Mist, Pepsi Twist, Mountain Dew Code Red, and Mountain Dew LiveWire. Initially, these brands combined accounted for barely 5 percent of Pepsi's overall soft-drink sales. However, Sierra Mist quickly blossomed and now is the number two lemon-lime soft drink behind Sprite, and Code Red and LiveWire have revitalized the Mountain Dew brand. Says Pepsi-Cola North America's chief marketing officer, "Thle era of the mass brand has been over for a long time. "21 Today, the low cost of setting up shop on the Internet makes it even more profitable to serve seemingly minuscule niches. Small businesses, in particular, are realizing riches from serving small niches on the Web. Here is a "Webpreneur" who achieved astonishing results: Sixty-three-year-old British artist Jacquie Lawson taught herself to use a computer only a few years ago.-Last year, her online business had sales of over $4 million. What does she sell? Online cards. Lawson occupies a coveted niche in the electronic world: a profitable, subscription-based Web site (www.jacquielawson.com) where she sells her highly stylized e-cards without a bit of advertising. While the giantsHallmark and American Greetings-offer hundreds of e-cards for every occasion, Lawson only offers about 50 in total, the majority of which she intricately designed herself. Revenue comes solely from members-81 percent from the United Stateswho pay $8 a year. Last year, membership climbed from 300,000 to 500,000 and the membership renewal rate is close tc! 70 percent. Last December, Lawson's Web site attracted 22.7 million visitors, more than double that of closest rival AmericanGreetings.com. Lawson's success with a business model that has stumped many media giants speaks to both the Internet's egalitarian nature and her own stubborn belief that doing it her way is the right way.22 Concentrated marketing can be highly profitable. At the same time, it involves higherthan-normal risks. Companies that rely on one or a few segments for all of their business will suffer greatly if the segment turns sour. Or larger competitors may decide to enter the same segment with greater resources. For these reasons, many companies prefer to diversify in several market segments.

198 .

..--. .,-...-

...

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

- .- .,. ..

Procter & Gamble is one of the world's premier consumer-goods companies. Some 99 percent of all U.S. households use at least one of P&G1s more than 300 brands, and the typical household regularly buys and uses from one to two dozen P&G brands. P&G sells six brands of laundry detergent in the United States (Tide, Cheer, Gain, Era, Dreft, and lvory Snow). It also sells s.ix brands of bath soap (Ivory, Safeguard, Camay, Olay, Zest, and Old Spice); seven brands of shampoo (Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Aussie, Herbal Essences, lnfusium 23, Pert Plus, and Physique); four brands of dishwashing detergent (Dawn, lvory, Joy, and Cascade); three brands each of tissues and paper towels (Charmin, Bounty, and Puffs), skin care products (Olay, Gillette Complete Skincare, and Noxzema), and deodorant (Secret, Sure, and Old Spice); and two brands each of fabric softener (Downy and Bounce), cosmetics (CoverGirl and Max Factor), and disposable diapers (Pampers Differentiated marketing: Procter & Gamble markets six different laundry detergents, including and Luvs). Tide-each with multiple forms and formulations-that compete with each other on store shelves. Moreover, P.&G has many additional Yet together, these multiple brands capture four times the market share of nearest rival Unilever. brands in each category for different international markets. For example, it sells 16 different laundry product brands in Latin America and 19 in Europe, the gents as an example. People use laundry detergents to get their Middle East, and Africa. (See P&GJsWeb site at www.pg.com for a clothes clean. But they also want other things from their detergentssuch as economy, strength or mildness, bleaching power, fabric softfull glimpse of the company's impressive lineup of familiar brands.) These P&G brands compete with one another on the same super- ening, fresh smell, and lots of suds or only a few. We all want some of market shelves. But why would P&G introduce several brands in one every one of these benefits from our detergent, but we may.have difcategory instead of concentrating its resources on a single leading ferent priorities for each benefit. To some people, cleaning and brand?The answer lies in the fact that different people want different bleaching power are most important; to others, fabric softening matmixes of benefits from the products they buy. Take laundry deter- ters most; still others want a mild, fresh scented detergent. Thus, ~-,7:;3 ~.,-

*r,

:..> &? ::' -

2

..-,,

Micromarketing

..

The practice of tailoring products and market&g programs to the needs and r f o r m & : e - e v e r to consumers. In the final analysis, brands exist hthe m n d s of consumers. The real value of a strong brand is its power to Brands vary in the amount of power and value they such as Coca-Cola, Tide, Nike, Harley-Davidson,Disney, and others-become larger-than-life icons that maintain their power in the market for years, even generations. These brands win in the marketplace not simply because they deliver unique benefits or reliable service. Rather, they succeed because they forge deep connections with customers. Consumers sometimes bond very closely with specific brands. Consider the feelings of one Michigan couple about Black & Decker's DeWalt power tool brand:21 Rick and Rose Whitaker weren't comfortable with the idea of a white-gown-and-tux wedding. They kept coming back to the fact that Rick, a carpenter, had a passion for power tools. Specifically,DeWalt power tools. So at the July nuptials, 50-plus guests gathered in Rick's backyard wearing DeWaltJstrademark yellow-and-black T-shirts. The Michigan couple-both are now $$-dressed in shirts emblazoned with an image of DeWalt-sponsored NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth. They made their way to a wooden chapel that they had built with their DeWalt gear. There they exchanged power tools, cutting the cake with a power saw.

Chapter 8 Product, Services, and Branding Strategy

23 1

tomers would pay a 20 percent premium for their brand of choice relative to the closest competing brand; 40 percent said they would pay a 50 percent premium. Tide and Heinz lovers are willing to pay a 100 percent premium.22 A brand with strong brand equity is a very valuable asset. Brand valuation is the process of estimat------=-Lng the t % ~ l ~ i n ~ r i ~ i T ~ o ~ Me a basxurmg a ~ d . *such value is difficult. However, according to one estimate, the brand value of Coca-Cola is $67 billion, Microsoft is $57 billion, and IBM is $56 billion. Other brands rating among the world's most valuable include GE, Intel, Nokia, Toyota, Disney, McDonald's, and M e r c e d e s - B e n ~ . ~ ~ High brand equity provides a company with many competitive advantages. A powerful brand enjoys a high level of consumer brand awareness and loyalty. Because consumers expect stores to carry the brand, the company has more leverage in bargaining with resellers. Because the brand name carries high credibility, the company can more easily launch line and brand extensions. A powerful brand offers the company some defense against fierce price competition. Above all, however, a powerful brand forms the basis for building strong and profitable customer ~ e l a El Consumers sometimes bond very closely with specific brands. Jokes the tionships. The fundamental asset underlying brand bride: "He loves DeWalt nearly as much as he loves me." equity i s p s ..___.__I__ t o m e r eoav-the value of the customer relationshias -that the bran . is important, but what it really r e p r e s " e " ; ; - t ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 3 ~ uThe ~ proper f o m ~ r s . Brand equ-iy focus of marketing is building customer equity, with brand management serving as a major ' ~ & i i i ~ % f f e r e n t l a leffect tm'knowing the brand marketing tool. Says one marketing expert, "Companies need to be thought of as portfolios of has on cusGKer .----respon2sto customers and not portfolios of products."24 -s--L---;i

_%&product _ _.-. J-

-

or service. -----=---- -"

the marketer. Figure 8.3 shows that the major brand g, brand name selection, b r v d sponsorshig, and -

By..sxld Posi$iog~q - -

Marketers need to position their brands clearly i n _ t a n _ t a r ~ t c u s ~ ~ r s s b ~They ~ d s . can position , they can position the brand on brands at any of three levels.25 At t k about their products' natural, Thus, The Body Shop m iendly ingredients, unique scents, and special textures. However, attributes are the least desirable level for brand positioning. ~ompetitorscan easily copy attributes. More

FIG

.3

Major brand strategy decisions

232

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix important, customers are not interested in attributes as such; they are interested i n what the attributes will do for them. A brand can be better positioned by associating its name with a desirabl Thus, The Body Shop can go beyond pro edients and talk about the resulting beauty benefits, such as clearer skin from its Tea Tree Oil Facial Wash and sun-kissed cheeks fiom its Bronzing Powder. Some successful brands positioned on benefits are Volvo (safety),FedEx (guaranteed o n - b e delivery), Nike (performance), and Lexus (quality).

Brand positioning: The strongest brands go beyond attribute or benefit positioning. Godiva engages customers on a deeper Level, touching universal emotions.

strong These brands pack an emotional wallop. Thus, The Body Shop can talk not just about environmentally MendG ingredients and skin-care benefits, but about how purchasing these products empowers its socially conscious customer to "make up your mind, not just your face."26 Successful brands engage customers on a deep, emotional level. Brands such as Starbucks, Victoria's Secret, and Godiva rely less on a product's tangible attributes and more on creating surprise, passion, and excitement surrounding a brand. When positioning a brand, the marketer should establish a mission for the brand and a vision of whatthe b r q d must be and do..> bianvd GXiver a sFcific set of t s the c o m G y ' s features, benefits, services, and experiences consistently to the buyers. The brand promise must be simple and honest. Motel 6, for example, offers clean rooms, low prices, and good service but does not promise expensive furniture or large bathrooms. In contrast, The Ritz-Carlton offers luxurious rooms and a truly memorable experience but does not promise low prices.

A good name can add greatly to a product's success. However, finding the best brand name is a difficult task. It begins with a careful review of the product and its benefits, the target market, and proposed marketing strategies. After that, naming a brand becomes part science, part art, and a measure of instinct (see Real Marketing 8.1).

eign markets. It found that the name Enco referred to a stalled engine when pronounced i n . A brand name cannot be Japanese. (6) It should be capable of registration and leg registered if it - ~ - ~ i s ~ a f ; - Z E T e s . Many firms try to build a brand name that will eventu oduct category. Brand names such as Kleenex, Levi's, Jell-0, BAND-AID, Scotch Tape, Formica, Ziploc, and Fiberglass have succeeded in this way. However, their very success may threaten the company's rights to the name. Many originally protected brand names-such as cellophane, aspirin, nylon, kerosene,

Chapter 8 Product, Services,and Branding Strategy

233

linoleum, yo-yo, trampoline, escalator, thermos, and shredded wheat-are now generic names that any seller can use. To protect their brands, marketers present them carefully using the word "brand" and the registered trademark symbol, as in "BAND-AID@Brand Adhesive Bdndages."

Eff8,Gd S~O -~ P M S ~ ~ B L = S ~ ~ P

> m & ~ a % u (orX national r sponsorship options. The product may be launched as a brand), as when Kellogg and Apple sell their output under urer's brand names. Or the manufacturer may sell to resellers who give it alled a sfore brand or d i s ~ t ~ ~ _ b ~Although , n d ) . most manufacturers brand name=ersm&ket licensed brands. Finally, two companies can join forces and co-brand a product.

-

Private brand (or store

"-

Manufacturers' brands have long dominated the retail scene. In recent times, however, an increasing number of retailers and wholesalers have created their own private brands (or store brands). And in many industries, these private brands are giving man?iTac&e~' 6r$ds'a~a1r30r their money:

-

A brand created and owned OF -b~-rk-~?~fict - -service. pas-s=--

Melanie Turner has forgotten her shopping list, but the 42-year-old pension consultant doesn't seem to mind. Entering her local Costco store, Turner knows right where she's going. In the dish detergent section, her hand goes past Procter & Gamble's Cascade to grab two 96-ounce bottles of Kirkland Signature, the in-store brand that Costco has plastered on everything from cashews to cross-trainer sneakers. Trolling for some fresh fish for dinner, she hauls in a 2 1/2-pound package of tilapia-it, too, emblazoned with the bold red, white, and black Kirkland logo. Then it's off to the paper aisle, where she picks up mammoth packs of Kirkland dinher napkins, Kirkland toilet paper, and . . . wait, where are the Kirkland paper towels? Her eyes scan the store's maze of hulking pallets-no sign of them-before coming to rest on a 12-pack of P&G's Bounty. A moment of decision. "1'11 wait on this," she says finally. And there, in microcosm, is why Melanie Turner scares the pants off Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kraft, and just about every'consumer-goods company out there. Her shopping cart is headed for the checkout aisle, and there's hardly a national brand in it. . . . A subtle tectonic shift has been reshaping the world of brands. Retailersonce the lowly peddlers of brands that were made and marketed by big, Ed An increasing number of retailers have created their own store brands. Costco's important manufacturers-are now Kirkland brand adorns everything from baby wipes to barbeques. behaving like full-fledged marketemz7 It seems that almost every retailer now carries its own store brands. Wal-Mart offers Sam's Choice beverages and food products, Equate pharmacy and health and beauty products, and White Cloud brand toilet tissue, diapers, detergent, and fabric softener. More than half the products at your local Target are private brands, and grocery giant Kroger markets some 8,000 items under a variety of private brands, such as Private Selection, Kroger Brand, F.M.V. (For Maximum Value), Naturally Preferred, and Everyday Living. And private labels make up more than 80 percent of Trader Joe's merchandise. At the other end of the spectrum, upscale retailer Saks Fifth Avenue carries its own clothing line, which features $98 men's ties, $200 halter-tops, and $250 cotton dress shirts. In all, private brands capture more than 20 percent of all U S . consumer products sales. Private-label apparel, such as Gap, The Limited, Arizona Jeans (JC Penney), and Liz Lange (Target),captures a 36 percent share of all U.S. apparel sales.28

234

Part 3 Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integratsd Marketing Mix

z 2 Every company wants a name that's *,: % : ,& 'lsti~ky'r-~nethat stands out from the crowd, a catchy handle that will remain fresh and memorable over time. But the issue of stickiness turns out to be kind of, well, sticky. Such names are hard to find, especially because naming trends change-often decade by decade. Whereas the giddy 1990s were all about quirky names (Yahoo, Google, Fogdog) or trademark-proof monikers concocted from scratch (Novartis, Aventis, Lycos), tastes have shifted amid the uncertainties of the new millennium. Today's style is to build corporate identity around words that have real meaning, to name things in the spirit of what they actually are. The new names are all about purity, clarity, and organicism. For example, names like Silk (soy milk), Method (home products), Blackboard (school software), and Smartwater (beverages)are simple and make intuhve sense. "There's a trend toward meaning in words. When it comes down to evocative words versus straightforward names, straightforward will win in testing every time,"says an executive from a New - .--- -- - --*. --Eod~tsatgg~~z.nonF!nfthecom example, Toyota created the separate Sci ~ a t s i s h i t auses separate names for its different farniiies of consumer electronics products: Panasonic, Technics, JVC, and Quasar, to name just a few. As with multibranding, offering too many new brands can result in a company spreading its resources too thin. And in some industries, such as consumer packaged goods, consumers and retailers have become concerned that there are already too many brands, with too few differences between them. Thus, Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, and other large consumer product marketers are now pursuing megabrand strategies-weeding out weaker brands and focusing their marketing dollars only on brands that can achieve the number-one or number-two market share positions in their categories. "We . . . sort through our smaller brands," says P&GYs CEO, and "divest the ones that don't have a strategic role or cannot deliver."35 &

arefully. First, the brand's positioning must be conMajor brand marketers often spend huge amounts s and to build preference and loyalty. For example, Verizon spends more than $1.7 billion annually to promote its brand. Coca-Cola spends $317 million on its Coca-Cola and Diet Coke brands.36 Such advertising campaigns can help to create , Today, customers come to know a wide range of contacts These include advertising, but also ence with the b r q d . . w ~ g g m f o u ~ c o ~Web p ~pBes, - ~ and m a n m e r s . The company m%tFiasmuch c&e into managing these-touch points a x m t o produ%ng its ads. "A brand is a living entity," says former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, "and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures."37 The brand's positioning will not take hold fully unless everyone in the company lives the brand. Therefore the company needs to train its people to be customer centered. Even better,

Chapter 8

Product, Services, and Branding Strategy

239

the ixmpany should carry on internal brand building to help employees understand and be enthusiastic about the'brand promise. Many companies go even further by training and encouraging their distributors and dealers to serve their customers well. All of this suggests that managing a company's brand assets can no longer be left only to brand managers. Brand managers do not have enough power or scope to do all the things necessary to build and enhance their brands. Moreover, brand managers often pursue short-term results, whereas managing brands as assets calls for longer-term strategy. Thus, some companies are now setting u manage their major brands. Canada Dry and Colgate-Pal managers to maintain and protect their brands' images, associations, and quality and to prevent short-term actions by overeager brand managers from hurting the brand. 38 Finally, companies need to periodical They should ask: Does our brand excel at 1s the brand properly positioned? Do all of our consumer touch points support the brand's positioning? Do the brand's managers understand what the brand means to consumers? Does the brand receive proper, sustained support? The brand audit may turn up brands that need more support, brands that need to be dropped, or brands that must be rebranded or repositioned because of changing customer preferences or new competitors.

Services have grown dramatically in recent years. Services now account for close to 79 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. And the service industry is growing. By 2014, it is estimated that nearly four out of five jobs in the United States will be in service industries. Services are growing even faster in the world economy, making up 37 percent of the value of all international trade.39 Service industries vary grea r services through courts, employment fire departments, postal services, and services, hospitals, military se schools. Private not-for-profit organizations offer services through museums, charities, churches,"c";;lmfo~T1'3~~ns;-an-d-h-o~it5Ts~ large n ~ m b e r ~ o ~ h u s i a e s s services-airlines, banks, hotels, insurance companies, consulting firms, practices, entertainment companies, real-estate firms, retailers, and others.

Service intangibility V s t l c of .~rvices-they cannot b6' felt,-hearGL smelled before they are -- --' 5i0ug-h:-t -

Four service characteristics

A company must consider four special service characteristics when designing marketing - -prov r i a b;iitiy, an? perishabiii~(sek ~ i & e 8.5). a~servicescannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled . For example, people undergoing cosmetic surgery cannot see the result before the purchase. Airline passengers have nothing but a ticket and the promise that they and their luggage will arrive safely at the intended destination, hopefully at the same time. To reduce uncertainty, buyers look for "signals" of service quality. They draw conclusions about quality from the place, people, price, equipment, and communications that they can see.

,

Part 3

Designing a Custorner-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

capabilities. The Mayo Clinic practices good evidence management:40 *-L.-----L

- -

When it comes to hospitals, it's very hard for the average patient to judge the quality of the "product." You can't try it on, you can't return it if you don't like it, and you need an advanced degree to understand it. And so, when we're considering a medical facility, most of us unconsciously turn detective, looking for evidence of competence, caring, and integrity. The Mayo Clinic doesn't leave that evidence to chance. By carefully managing a set of visual and experiential clues, Mayo offers patients and their families concrete evidence of its strengths and values. For example, staff people at the clinic are trained to act in a way that clearly signals its patient-first focus. "My doctor calls me at home to check on how I am doing," marvels one patient. "She wants to work with what is best for my schedule." Mayo's physical facilities also send the right signals. They've been carefully designed to relieve stress, offer a place of refuge, create positive distractions, convey caring and respect, signal competence, accommodate families, and make it easy to find your way around. The result? Exceptionally positive word of mouth and abiding customer loyalty, which have allowed Mayo Clinic to build what is arguably the most powerful brand in health care-with very little advertising. Physical goods are produced, then stored, later sold, and still later consumed. In contrast, A major characteristic-o& TerVices-they-a~e-prod uc* s_and consumed at theL2ame 7 time and cannot be separated -----.--= ,from their proyvidgg

-

&u;_i.-~__.l.-~

Service variability major chaEc%r~sti~qf -- - ~ervices~their quality ma2 ,vary_g~jy,dep_ending on : who-proqdes-them and -------- - ' ;6n;'where, and how. - -- - - - ~ ~ ~ Service perishability - ---I! L m ~ j gcharacte~stic r of -- services-they cannot be a stored for later sale or use. eA-

-

---4

1

A--3

$ T ; -

yL-----.

-. ,

-

-

--

; -

torner affect the service outcome. Service variability means that the quality on who-provides-&!I? as ---- of servicesdepends -- .---w - m d how t h e t a p P r O ~ d e $For example, some hotels-say, Marriottave reputations for providing better service thin others. Still, within a given Marriott hotel, one registration-counter employee may be cheerful and efficient, whereas another standing just a few feet away may be unpleasant and slow. Even the quality of a single Marriott employee's service varies according to his or her energy and frame of mind at the time of each customer encounter. Service perishability means that services cannot be stored for later sale or use. Some doctors $5arge c i i f i & m i s s e d appointments because the service value existed only at that point and disappeared when the patient did not show up. The perishability of services is not a problem when demand is steady. However, when demand fluctuates, service firms often have difficult problems. For example, because of rush-hour demand, public transportation companies have to own much more equipment than they would if demand were even throughout the day. Thus, service firms often design strategies for producing a better match between demand and supply. Hotels and resorts charge lower prices in the off-season to attract more guests. And restaurants hire part-time employees to serve during peak periods.

;-w-Z-khen;

_-

arketing Strategies for Service Firms . ---

___-____v

---

Just like manufacturing businesses, good service firms use marketing to position themselves strongly in chosen target markets. Target promises "Expect more, pay less." The Ritz-Carlton Hotels positions itself as offering a memorable experience that "enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests." At the Mayo Clinic, "the needs of the patient come first." These and other service firms establish their positions through traditional marketing mix activities. However, because services differ from tangible products, they often require additional marketing approaches.

----

-

The Service-Profit Chain ----;--

-A

"

'--.

SeUricezpzp_rofitchain In a service business, the The c h--__ amm e r v --l c e vice.Effective -_--frm profits-- w%iployee7 on the support p -2nd customer s a f ~ ~ mtheir attention o --- - - - -.* A -

,

a d their m .e*

----i-_ii_l~u

e a w a t e the e r ervice employees and ice companies focus They understand th

Product, Services, and Branding Strategy

Chapter 8

241

pmfit-chaig, which links service firm profits with employee and customer satisfaction. This chain consists of five links:41 a Internal service q ualjty: s u p ~ g &employee selection. and training, a-qua!ilywork envg~s---merit, and strong ~ ' u 5 ~ ofor r t those &iTing ust tome%, wh* rresu.@ in . . . - - - -"--A -

--

-

-

~=rred

e3

more satisfied, loyal, and hardworking

BU

: more effective and efficient customer value creation and service

satisfied customers who remain loyal, repeat purchase, and esults in . . . es =thy sevice profits and growth :superiars.ex-vice firm performance. .----,-----. -Therefore, reaching service profits and growth goals begins with taking care of those who take care of customers (see Real Marketing 8.2). In fact, legendary founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, always put employees first, not customers. His reasons? "If they're happy, satisfied, dedicated, and energetic, they'll take good care of customers," he says. "When the customers are happy, they come back, and that makes shareholders happy."42 Consider Wegmans, a 71-store grocery chain in the Mid-Atlantic States. ~i

+

& ,

--

BI The service-profit chain: Happy employees make for happy customers. "The biggest reason Wegmans is a shopping experience like no other i s that it is a n employer like no other."

_

Wegmans customers have a zeal for the store that borders on obsession. Says one regular, "Going there isn't just shopping, it's an event." A recent national survey of food retailer customer satisfaction put Wegmans at the top. Last, year, Wegmans received more than 7,000 letters from around the country, about half of them asking Wegmans to come to their town, The secret? Wegmans knows that happy, satisfied employees produce happy, satisfied customers. So Wegmans takes care of its employees. It pays higher salaries, shells out money for employee college scholarships, covers 100 percent of health insurance premiums for employees making less than $55,000 a year, and invests heavily in employee training. In fact, last year Wegmans topped Fortune magazine's best-companies-to-work-for list. "The biggest reason Wegmans is a shopping experience like no other is that it is an employer like no other," says a Wegmans

Thus, sewice marketing requires more than just tradition Four Ps. Figure 8.6 shows that ser'vice mark$~G@I$%dr'eq " interadiTe marketing. Internal marketing means that the service firm m 7 ; _ ---_ -- ---

-3

Company

Three fype~~oJservice m"am"arkiting

r-,---

EmplOyeeS

sh-prpducts, through t h e tradiitional stages of the productlife-cycle. ' ' ~ Y ~ e t e instinctively r s embrace the old life-cycle paradigm, they n6edlessly c 0 n S i S h e i r products to following the curve into maturity and decline," notes one marketing professor. Instead, marketers often defy the "rules" of the life cycle and position their products in unexpected ways. By doing this, "companies can rescue products foundering in the maturity phase of their life cycles and return them to the growth phase. And they can catapult new products forward into the growth phase, leapfrogging obstacles that could slow consumers' a ~ c e p t a n c e . " ~ ~ We looked at the product development stage of the product life cycle in the first part of the chapter. We now look at strategies for each of the other life-cycle stages. r?--=====l

%product life-Cycle stage ~n'whictithe newpf6?KEs 7iraktributed and mad?-' -- - -' available for purch3se:--+

a

. cn

cn

A temporary period of

V)

-m

-

Zntroduotiajn Stags --The i~&oPdduction stage starts when the new product is f i r s t e d . Introduction takes time, and sales growth is apt to be slow. Wellknown such as -instant coffee and frozen foods lingered for many years before they entered a stage of rapid growth. In this stage, as compared to other stages, p r o f i ~ ~ g - e g g ~ i ; ~ - c because ! r ~ w of the low s&s and & M u t i ----o n and p-.romom gzpenses. M u . moneyis.needed to2ttrac!-d$: _tributG&d builbthe&ig~entor~esr-. Promotion spending is relatively high to inform consumers of the new product and get them t r t w t . Because the market is not generally ready for __._

Fads: Pet rocks, introduced one October, had sunk Like a stone by the next February.

b

Part 3

270

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix product refinements at this stage, the company and its few competitors produce basic versions of the product. These firms focus their selling on those buyers who are the most ready to buy. must choose a launch strategy that is consisA company, especially th ould realize that the initial strategy is just the tent with the intended produc first step in a grander marketing plan for the product's entire life cycle. If the pioneer chooses its launch strategy to make a "killing," it may be sacrificing long-run revenue for the sake of short-run gain. As the pioneer moves through later stages of the life cycle, it must continuously formulate new pricing, promotion, and other marketing strategies. It has the best chance of building and retaining market leadership if it plays its cards correctly from the start.

_Grow_tkstgge

If the new product satisfies the market, it will enter

in which a product's s a k e ? start cllmbrng quickly. ..==-------- . ---

--

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-&rge_vol-,=&-and as u x a n u f a c t u r i n g costs fall. ~ h e ~ ' u s e ~ ; e ~strategies & a l to& d-s -- product qu$ig and aas-newpro-duct ef-s market growih as long as possibl-ves t7 entersenew market' se@heriti and ~ d i s ~ u t i o shifts ~ some - ~ ~ -- advertising f r o m m i n g p r o d u c t ~ & = ~ ~to b u i l d i n g ~ r o d u gconviction and purchase, and it 1gwxs-pricg~atthe right time-to-am&-more-buy%rs. In the growth stage, the firm faces a trade-off between high market share and high current theIp;c;c~&. By spending a lot of money on p r Z c ~ i " m 7 5 " : m e n tp_r^?irnoti~~~ddi%ibution, , company can capture a dominant position. In doing so, however, it gives up maximum current profit, which it hopes to make up in the next stage. *-

~

-x-

Maturity stage 'Theprodkt l8e-cycle stage Iin which sales growth slo@ --or levels qf- _

-

- -

,jand the product will enter a-maturity , and it poses s t r z g tage of the life cycle, challenges to marketing manageme and therefore most of marketing management deals with the mature product.

stags This ma

competitors start d r o ~ , , o u t and , .the industry eventually contains only w e l k s b b l ~ d , competitors. - --- ~ l t h G many h products in the mature stage appear long periacp+d~?v&ing to meet changing co ods, m-ost successfuzJon~~~re s. Product managers should do more simply ride along Wth or defend their m a t u r e ~ d u c t s - a good offense is the best defense. They should con -marketing-r&c In modi$ng fh_~p_rket, the company tries to increase the consumption of the--current prWi It may look for n z s e r s and new market s e m s , a3Ghen John Deere tiigeted3Be retiring baby-boomer market with the Gator, a vehicle traditionally used on a farm. For this new market, Deere has repositioned the Gator, promising that it c& "take you from a do-ityourselfer to a do-it-a-lot-easier." The manager may also look for ways to increase usage amo_ng,~-e_n.c~~t_o~mers. Amazon.com does this by sending p e r r n i s s i o n - b a s e ~ to s regular customers letting the& know when their favorite authors or performers publish new books or CDs. The WD-40 Company has shown a real knack for expanding the market by finding new uses for its popular substance.

t

Chapter 9 New-Produd Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies

273.

In 2000, the company launched a search to uncover 2,000 unique uses for WD-40. After receiving 300,000 individual submissions, it narrowed the list to the best 2,000 and posted it on the company's Web site. Some consumers suggest simple and practical uses. One teacher uses WD-40 to clean old chalkboards i n her classroom. "Amazingly, the boards started coming to life again," she reports. "Not only were they restored, but years of masking and Scotch tape residue came off as well." Others, however, report some pretty unusual applications. One man uses W - 4 0 to polish his glass eye; another uses it to remove a prosthetic leg. And did you hear about the nude burglary suspect who had wedged himself in a vent at a cafe in Denver? The fire department extracted him with a large dose of WD-40. Or how about the Mississippi naval officer who used WD-40 to repel an angry bear? Then there's the college student who wrote to say that a friend's nightly amorous activities in the next room were causing everyone in his dorm to lose sleep-he solved the problem by treating the squeaky bedsprings with lNJl-40.~~ The company might also try mo&fy&g-$e pc~ducL-changing characteristics -such - - - -- -as qualify, features, style, or packaging to attract new users and to inspire more usage. It might improve the poducfs-quality-aad peyfo~mace-its durab_&y, taste. It-can improve the prod- reliability,-speed, @ The WD-40 Company's knack for finding new uses has.,madethis popular uct's styling and attractiveness. Thus, car manufacsubstance one of the truly essential survival items in mdst American homes. turers restyle their cars to attract buyers who want a new lodk. The makers of consumer food and household products introduce new flavors, colors, ingredients, or packages to revitalize consumer buying. Or the company might add new features that expand the product5 usefulness, safety, or convenience. For example, WD-40 has recently introduced a new Smart Straw can featuring a permanently attached straw that never gets lost. And it brought out a No-Mess Pen, with a handy pen-shaped applicator that lets users "put W - 4 0 where you want it and nowhere else." Finally, the company can tr-ysodi@ngthe-mazk&n=g~-improving sale~~b-y~chang~ing one or more marketingmix-elem_ents. It can cut prices to attract new users and competitors' customers. It can launch a better advertising campaign or use aggressive sales promotionstrade deals, cents-off, premiums, and contests. In addition to pricing and promotion, the company can also move into larger market channels, using mass merchandisers, if these channels are growing. Finally, the company can offer new or improved services to buyers. I-----

Decline Stage

Decline stage

TfT= e--product d life-cygle stage i m c h - a product'szs dediire. -.--

Tbe 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 cases of c a s s e = m ~ tapes. Sales may plunge to zero, or they may drop to a low level where they continue for many years. This is the ,ded&pstage. ~all_d~zg~~ for many reasons, including technological advances, shifts in consumer tastex andincreased competition. As sales and pgofits decline, some firms withdraw from the market. Those remaining may prune their prod= T ~ F drop A smaller ~ ~ m&?%t * the promotio-ce.. , _ --_.. -segments and marginal trade channels, or they may cut -- a!ir prices further.

272

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Not so long ago, Procter & Gamble was a slumbering giant. Mired in mature markets with megabrands such as Tide, Crest, Pampers, and Pantene, growth had slowed and earnings languished. But no longer. Now, thanks to a potent mixture of renewed creativity and marketing muscle, P&G is once again on the move. In the past five years,, P&G1s stock price and profits have doubled. The key to this success has been a renewed knack for innovation and a string of successful new products. As you've no doubt noted, P&G innovations have popped up repeatedly as examples in this chapter. "From its Swiffer mop to battery-powered Crest SpinBrush toothbrushes and Whitestrip tooth whiteners," says one observer, "P&G has simply done a better job than rivals of coming up with new products that consumers crave." But it's not just new products-P&G has been working at both ends of the product life cycle. Along with creating innovative new products, P&G has become adept at turning yesterday's faded favorites into today's hot new products. Here are two examples. i

Mr. Clean Mr. Clean's share of the all-purpose household cleaner market had plunged more than 45 percent in just ten years. But rather than abandon the 48-year-old iconic brand, P&G chose to modify and extend it. First, it reformulated the core Mr. Clean all-purpose liquid cleaner, adding antibacterial properties and several new scents. Then came some real creativity. P&G extended the brand to include several revolutionary new products. The first was Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, a soft, disposable selfcleaning pad that acts like an eraser to lift away tough dirt, including difficult scuff and crayon marks. The Magic Eraser was soon followed by products such as the Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash system, which gives your car a spot-free clean and shine with no need to hand dry, and the Mr. Clean MagicReach bathroom cleaner,

Working at both ends of the product life cycle: Along with creating innovative new products, P&G has become adept at turning yesterday's faded favorites into today's hot new products. For example, its Mr. Clean brand has now muscled its way back into a market-leading position.

Carrying a weak product can be very costly to a firm, and n o t just in p r o f i t terms. There are many h i d d e n costs. A weak product m a y take u p too m u c h o f management's time. It often requires frequent p r i c e a n d inventory adjustments. I t requires advertising and sales-force attention that m i g h t be better used to make "healthy" products more profitable. A product's failing reputation can cause customer concerns about the company a n d its other products. The biggest cost m a y w e l l l i e 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 o n the future. For these reasons, companies need to pay more attention to their aninn products. The firm's first task i s t o identify@ose~rod~_c_ts~i~%%~d~~lini i i a g e b y c T i Y ~sales, g market shares, c o s W X d p r o f i t trends. Then, management must decide-whether to m a i n t z n , - ---harvest, o r drop each o f these declining products, Management m a y decide to maintain i t s brand_without_changein the hope that comp,e?tors w i l l leave the industry. F o r example, Procter & Gamble mad6 g o o d ~ o ~ t S b ~ r e m a i n in ing

-

--A-

__C-

Chapter 9

New-Product Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies

which helps ease the tough job of cleaning those hard-to-reach bathroom spots. As for the marketing muscle, P&G backed the new-product launches with millions of dollars in marketing support. It spent $75 million on marketing the first version of the AutoDry Carwash alone. Now, after a decade of playing the 98-pound weakling, Mr. Clean has muscled its way back to a market-leading position as a P&G billion-dollar brand.

Old Spice When P&G acquired Old Spice in 1990, the brand was largely a has-been. It consisted mainly of a highly fragrant aftershave, marketed to a rapidly graying customer base through ads featuring a whistling sailor with a girl in every port. Old Spice deodorant ranked a dismal tenth in market share. But in a surprisingly short time, P&G has transformed a small stagnating brand into a men's personal care powerhouse. Old Spice is now one of the top-selling brands in the deodorant, antiperspirant, and body spray category, with 10 percent share of the almost $2.4 billion market. To get there, P&G pulled off one of the hardest tricks in marketing: reviving a familiar brand. To shed the image of "your father's aftershave," and to appeal to younger buyers, P&G refocused on performance, launching Old Spice High Endurance deodorant in 1994. It ditched the sailor ads and targeted guys 18 to 34. The deodorant business grew steadily, but P&G still wasn't drawing in men 25 to 45, who still remembered Old Spice as a relic from Dad's era. So P&G skipped a generation and aimed Old Spice at first-time deodorant users. It started handing out samples of High Endurance to fifth-grade health classes, covering 90 percent of the nation's schools. In 2000, P&G launched Old Spice Red Zone, a sub-brand that offered even more protection than High Endurance. Sales took

273

off, and by 2001, Old Spice was edging out Right Guard as the top teen brand. To reach teen boys, who spend less time watching TV, P&G's marketing for Old Spice has gone well beyond the 30-second TV commercial to include lots of grassroots marketing. P&G hands out Old Spice samples at skateboarding events and gets the product into locker rooms by sponsoring a contest for high-school football player of the year. Old Spice has even partnered with P&G brand Always to assemble sex-education packages for fifth-grade classrooms, entitled "Always Changing: About You-Puberty and Stuff." For boys, the package comes complete with reading material, a video, and Old Spice product samples. P&G now has that Old Spice sailor whistling a whole new tune. The once old and stodgy is young again, and hot. Beyond deodorant, P&G sees Old Spice as a beachhead into other products. It has already launched Old Spice body sprays and body washes and has licensed sales of razors and shaving cream. What was old just over five years ago is new again-and a lot younger. Sources: Examples adapted from portions of Robert Berner, "Extreme Makeover," Business Week, November 1, 2004, pp. 105-106; and Jack Neff, "Mr. Clean Gets $50 Million Push," Advertising Age, August 18, 2003, pp. 3, 32; with quotes and other information from Todd Wasserman, "Mr. Clean AutoDry Gets an Overhaul," Brandweek, February 28, 2005, p. 17;Marek Fuchs, "Sex Ed, Provided by Old Spice," New York Times, May 29, 2005, p. 14WC.1; Jack Neff, "Who's No. l? Depends on Who's Analyzing the Data," AdvertisingAge, June 12, 2006,. p. 8; Constantine von Hoffman, "A Washout or a Clean Sweep," Brandweek, June 19,2006, pp. S52-S54; P&G 2005 Annual Report, accessed at www.PG.com, July 2006; and information accessed at www.homemadesimple. com/mrclean/, December 2006.

the declining liquid soap business as others withdrew. Or management m a y decide to reposit i o n o r reinvigorate the brand in hopes o f m o v i n g i t back i n t o the growth stage o f the product l i f e cycle. Procter & Gamble has done this w i t h several brands, i n c l u d i n g Mr. Clean and O l d Spice (see Real Marketing 9.2). Management m a y decide to harvest-the ~rodmJ, w h i c h means ryducing ~v_ario.us.-~~o.sts (&ant and equipment, maintenance, R&Q advertising, sales force) and h o p i n g that sales h o l d If successful, harvesting w i l l increase the company's profits in the short run. Or manage--s cup. -d m e n t m a y decide to drop 2 e product &om &gJqe. I t can sell i t to another firm or simply l i q uidate it at salvage value. In recent years, Procter & Gamble has sold off a number of lesser or the company plans to find a buyer, i t declining brands such as Crisco and Jif peanut butter. If w i l l n o t w a n t to run d o w n the product through harvesting. Table 9.2 summarizes the k e y characteristics of each stage of the product l i f e cycle. The table also lists the marketing objectives and strategies for each stage.35

-

274

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Summary of Product LifeCycle Characteristics, Objectives, and Strategies

/

Characteristics

,_-

;

i i i I

_

.___-

-

Maturity

Growth

btroduction _ __ _

-.. . ---.

Sales

Low sales

Costs

High cost per customer Negative

Rapidly rising sales Average cost per customer Rising profits

l nnovators

Early adopters

Few

Growing number

Profits

i Customers I

I

i

i

Competitors

.-

Decline -- .-.. -

Peak sales

Declining sales

Low cost per customer High profits

Low cost per customer Declining profits Laggards

Middle majority Stable number beginning to decline

Declining number

Marketing Objectives -

-

-

-

- -

Maximize market share

Offer product extensions, service, warranty Price to penetrate market Build intensive distribution

i

Strategies

\

Product

Offer a basic product

:

Price

Use cost-plus

-

.

Create product awareness and trial

--

Maximize profit while defending market share

Reduce expenditure and milk the brand

- - - --.

i Distribution j

j

Build selective distribution

Diversify brand and models

Phase out weak items

Price to match or beat competitors Build more intensive distribution

Cut price

Stress brand differences and benefits

Go selective: phase out unprofitable outlets Reduce to level needed to retain hard-core loyals

Increase to encourage brand switching

Reduce to minimal level

I

I Advertising

Sales Promotion

Build product awareness among early adopters and dealers Use heavy sales promotion to entice trial

Build awareness and, interest in the mass market Reduce to take advantage of heavy consumer demand

Source: Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 12th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006),

p. 332.

Here, we'll wrap up our discussion of products and services with two additional considera-

Product decisions have attracted much public attention. Marketers should carefullv consider ptecmp-+is from a_ddicgproducts oCCompanies droppingprodor 'implied, to their suppliers,

Chapter 9 New-Product Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies

275

dealers, and customers who have a stake in the dropped product. Companies must also obey U.S. patent laws when developing new products. A company cannot make its product gally similar to another company's established product. Manufacturers must comply with specific laws regardi Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act protects consumers drugs, and cosmetics. Various acts provide for the inspec meat- and poultry-processing industries. Safety legislation has been passed to regulate fabrics, chemical substances, automobiles, toys, and drugs and poisons. The Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 established a Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has the authority to ban or seize potentially harmful products and set severe penalties for violation of the law. njured by a product that has been designed defectively, they can Product liability suits are now occurring in federal courts at the . Although manufacturers are found at fault in only 6 percent of all product liability cases, when they are found guilty, the median jury award is $1.5 million, and individual awards can run into the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. For example, a jury recently ordered Ford to pay nearly $369 million to a woman paralyzed in a rollover accident involving a Ford E ~ p l o r e r . ~ ~ lity insurance~e-mj--. se higher rates along to consumers by raising prices. Others are forced to discontinue high-risk product lines. Some companies are now appointing "product stewards," whose job is to protect consumers from harm and the company from liability by proactively ferreting out potential product problems. Many manufacturers offer written product warranties to convince customers of their s e d - t h 2 Warranty Act in products' quality. To p r o t & % ~ ~ ~ 6 n g r ~ s ~ P a ~Magnuson-Moss 1975. The act reqiiaes tnat ~ - U T Z E E t i emeet s certain minimum standards, including repair "within a reasonable time and without charge" or a replacement or full refund if the product does not work "after a reasonable number of attempts" at repair. Otherwise, the company must make it clear that it is offering only a limited warranty. The law has led several manufacturers to switch from full to limited warranties and others to drop warranties altogether.

--

and service marketers face special challenges. First, they must figure' ou-&s. Then, they must decide s f i w o r l d markets. their offerings. ~ h d a r d i z a t i o n helps a company to develop ?_cpg~is_tentworldwid3jmgge. It also lowers the product design, msufacLt@ng, -and m%ke2ng-cm&of offering a large variety o E ~ G ? E T E T i a , markets~anTco~S3im~s around the world differ widely. Companies must usually respond to these differences by adapting their product offerings. For example, Cadbury sells kiwi-filled Cadbury Kiwi Royale in New Zealand. Frito-Lay sells Nori Seaweed Lay's potato chips for Thailand and A la Turca corn chips with poppy seeds and a dried tomato flavor for ~ u r k e y . ~ ~ & P-g also presents new challenges for international marketers. Packaging issues can be subtle. For example, names, labels, and colors may not translate easily from one country to another. A firm using yellow flowers in its logo might fare well in the United States but meet with disaster in Mexico, where a yellow flower symbolizes death or disrespect. Similarly, although Nature's Gift might be an appealing name for gourmet mushrooms in America, it would be deadly in Germany, where gift means poison. Packaging may also need to be tailored to meet the physical characteristics of consumers in various parts of the world. For instance, soft drinks are sold in smaller cans in Japan to fit the smaller Japanese hand better. Thus, although product and package standardization can produce benefits, companies must usually adapt their offerings to the unique needs of specific international markets. Spvice marketers also face special challenges when going global. Some service industries G v e a l o n g s r y of international operations. For example, the commercial banking industry was one of the first to grow internationally. Banks had to ~ r o v i d eglobal services in order to meet the foreign exchange and credit needs of their home country clients wanting to sell overseas. In recent years, many banks have become truly global. Germany's Deutsche Bank, for example, serves more than 13 million customers in 73 countries. For its clients around the world who wish to grow globally, Deutsche Bank can raise money not only in Frankfurt but also in Zurich, London, Paris, and Tokyo.38 International

276

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

&~rofess-siness services industries such as accounting, management consulting, and a d v ~ x & qh, a ~ b a l i ? e ~ n t e r n a t i o n agrowth l of these firms followed the globalization of the client companies they serve. For example, as more clients employ worldwide marketing and advertising strategies, advertising agencies have responded by globalizing their own operations. McCann Worldgroup, a large U3.-based advertising and marketing services agency, operates in more than 130 countries. It serves international clients such as Coca-Cola, General Motors, ExxonMobile, Microsoft, Mastercard, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever in markets ranging from the United States and Canada to Korea and Kazakhstan. Moreover, McCann Worldgroup is one company in the Interpublic Group of Companies, an immense, worldwide network of advertising and marketing services ~ o m p a n i e s . ~ ~ Retailers are among the latest service businesses to go global. As their home markets become saturated, American retailers such as Wal-Mart, Office Depot, and Saks Fifth Avenue are expanding into faster-growing markets abroad. For example, since 1995, Wal-Mart has entered 14 countries; its international division's sales grew more than 11 percent last year, skyrocketing to more than $62.7 billion. Foreign retailers are making similar moves. Asian shoppers can now buy American products in Frentjh-owned Carrefour stores. Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer behind Wal-Mart, now operates in more than 11,000 stores in more than 30 countries. It is the leading retailkr in Europe, Brazil, and Argentina and the largest foreign retailer in China.40 The trend toward growth of global service companies will continue, especially in banking, airlines, telecommunications, and professional services longer simply following their manufacturing customers.

,int,m~~Dasion.

eviewing the Concepts A company's current products face limited life spans and must be replaced by newer products. But new products can fail-the risks of innovation are as great as the rewards. The key to successful innovation lies in a total-company effort, strong planning, and a systematic newproduct development process.

Explain how companies find and develop new-product ideas. Companies find and develop new-product ideas from a variety of sources. Many new-product ideas stem from internal sources. Companies conduct formal research and development, pick the brains of their employees, and brainstorm at executive meetings. Other ideas come from external sources. By conducting surveys and focus groups and analyzing customer questions and complaints, companies can generate new-product ideas that will meet specific consumer needs. Companies track competitors'offerings and inspect new products, dismantling them, analyzing their performance, and deciding whether to introduce a similar or improved product. Distributorsand suppliers are close to the market and can pass along information about consumer problems and new-product possibilities. List and define the steps in the new-product development process and the major considerations in managing this process. The new-product development process consists of eight sequential stages. The process starts with idea generation. Next comes idea screening, which reduces the number of ideas based on the company's own criteria. Ideas that pass the screening stage continue through product concept development, in which a detailed version of the new-product idea is stated in meaningful consumer terms. In the next stage, concept testing, new-product concepts are tested with a group of target consumers to determine whether the concepts have strong consumer appeal. Strong concepts proceed to marketingstrategy development, in which an initial marketing strategy for the new product is developed from the product concept. In the businessanalysis stage, a review of the sales, costs, and profit projectionsfor a new product is conducted to determine whether the new product is

likely to satisfy the company's objectives. With positive results here, the ideas become more concrete through product developmentand test marketing and finally are launched during commercialization. New-product development involves more than just going through a set of steps. Companies must take a systematic, holistic approach to managing this process. Successful new-product development requires a customer-centered, team-based, systematic effort. 3. Describe the stages of the product life cycle. Each product has a life cycle marked by a changing set of problems and opportunities. The sales of the typical product follow an S-shaped curve made up of five stages. The cycle begins with the product development stage when the company finds and develops a newproduct idea. The introduction stage is marked by slow growth and low profits as the product is distributed to the market. If successful, the product enters a growth stage, which offers rapid sales growth and . increasing profits. Next comes a maturity stage when sales growth slows and profits stabilize. Finally, the product enters a decline stage in which sales and profits dwindle. The company's task during this stage is to recognize the decline and to decide whether it should maintain, harvest, or drop the product. 4. Describe how marketing strategies change during the product's life cycle. In the introduction stage, the company must choose a launch strategy consistent with its intended product positioning. Much money is needed to attract distributors and build their inventories and to inform consumers of the new product and achieve trial. In the growth stage, companies continue to educate potential consumers and distributors. In addition, the company works to stay ahead of the competition and sustain rapid market growth by improving product quality, adding new product features and models, entering new market segments and distribution channels, shifting advertising from building product awareness to building product conviction and purchase, and lowering prices at the right time to attract new buyers.

Chapter 9

New-Product Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies

In the maturity stage, companies continue to invest in maturing products and consider modifying the market, the product, and the marketing mix. When modifyng the market, the company attempts to increase the consumption of the current product. When modifying the product, the company changes some of the product's characteristics-such as quality, features, or style-to attract new users or inspire more usage. When modifying the marketing mix, the company works to improve sales by changing one or more of the marketing-mix elements. Once the company recognizes that a product has entered the decline stage, management must decide whether to maintain the brand without change, hoping that competitors will drop out of the market; harvest the product, reducing

.....

277

costs and trying to maintain sales; or drop the product, selling it to another firm or liquidating it at salvage value. 5. Discuss two additional product issues: socially responsible product decisions and international product and services marketing. Marketers must consider two additional product issues. The first is social responsibility. This includes public policy issues and regulations involving acquiring or dropping products, patent protection, product quality and safety, and product warranties. The second involves the special challenges facing international product and service marketers. International marketers must decide how much to standardize or adapt their offerings for world markets.

@viewingthe Key Terms

Business analysis 259 Commercialization 262 Concept testing 257 Customer-centered new-product development 263 Decline stage 271

Fad 269 Fashion 268 Growth stage 270 ldea generation 254 Idea screening 256 Introduction stage 269

Marketing strategy development 258 Maturity stage 270 ' New-product development 253 Product concept 257 Product development 259

Product life cycle (PLC) 267 Style 268 Team-based new-product development 264 Test marketing 260

iseussinag the 1. Why is concept testing important? 2. Under what conditions would you consider not test marketing a product? Describe a product or service that meets these no-need-totest criteria.

3. Compare the sequential product development to the team-based approach. Is one approach better than the other? Explain.

5. The chapter states that "In the growth stage of the product life cycle, the firm faces a trade-off between high market share and high current profit." Explain this statement.

6. What are some of the major reasons a product reaches the decline stage of the product life cycle?

4. Identify and discuss some potential problems ,with the product life cycle.

1. Form a small group. Generate ideas for a new consumer product that fills an existing need but does not currently exist. Select the one idea that you think is best. What process did your group use for idea generation and screening? 2. Write a marketing strategy statement for a new full-functioning but folding bicycle.

In the United States, there are over 250,000 deaths per year from sudden cardiac arrest. That's 100,000 more deaths than the number caused by traffic accidents, house fires, handguns, breast cancer, and AIDS combined. Defibrillators are medical devices that are commonly used by firefighters and paramedics to treat victims of sudden cardiac arrest with an electrical charge that restarts their hearts. With more than 80 percent of sudden cardiac arrests occurring at home, and only 5 percent of victims receiving the lifesaving electrical charge, Philips is now marketing a portable consumer defibrillator called the HeartStart. The product, which is about the size of a handheld video game, can be operated by any individual and does not need a trained medical provider. Voice activation

3. You are a product manager in a firm that manufactures and markets a line of branded action figure toys. The branded toy line is five years old. Annual sales and profits for this period are presented in the chart. Prepare a one-sentence strategy for each of the 4 Ps based on the brand's current product life-cycle position.

guides a consumer through each step, and smart technology gives specific instructions based on feedback to the main system. The FDAapproved product, priced at $1,495, is available online from amazon.com and drugstore.com. Visit http://www.heartstart.com for recent information on this new product. 1. Explain how this product might have moved through the stages of new-product development. 2. How might the marketing strategy for HeartStart change as it moves through the product life cycle?

278

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing

Mix

oeus on Ethics A select group of European retailers is moving forward to manufacture shtml) According to the company, the new products are a reaction to conand market socially responsible clothing. This fashion trend grew 30 per- sumers' questions about how cotton is produced and their realization of cent in 2005. Marks & Spencer (M&S), one of the largest retailers in the the social and environmental issues that are involved. According to a UK with over 400 stores, is one of the retailers embracing socially respon- 2006 Yougov Brand Index poll, M&S's corporate reputation is on the sible fashion. Beginning in March 2006, M&S began selling fair-trade- upswing since the new campaign began. certified T-shirts. By July 2006, the line expanded to jeans, underwear, 1. How did M&S conduct test marketing with the fair-trade-certified shorts, vests, and socks. The philosophy behind fair trade is to support clothing? the more than 100 million households worldwide who are involved in cot2. In what stage of the product life cycle are these trade-certified clothton production. The farmers, especially in poor countries, are vulnerable ing products? to lower cotton prices. In fact, a common reaction is for the farmers to use 3. Do you think the product life-cycle curve will follow the shape of a more pesticides to increase their yields, thus fueling an environmental style, fashion, or fad? issue in addition to a social issue. According to Mike Barry, head of corporate responsibility at M&S, "Eighty percent of our consumers wanted to ..Fair Trade Fashion Takes Off io Europe,,, See: know more about how clothing products were made." M&S brought its Women's Wear Daily,May 3, 2006, p. 6. new products to consumers' attention with a look-behind-the-labelcampaign. (~2.marksandspencer.com/thecompany/trustyour~mands/index.

When it hit the market in 2002, the eGO was the first vehicle of its kind: an environmentally frie.ndly, compact electric cycle. At the time, the product was so unique that the company had to develop new channels to distribute and sell it. Along with its cool, retro styling and innovative electrical design, the eGO Cycle costs less than half a cent per mile to drive. One model is even equipped with front and rear turn signals and a backlit speedometer for those who commute in heavy traffic. Aside from being featured on national news broadcasts and in trade magazines, the eGO Cycle made Oprah Winfrey's list of favorite things and the Today Show's list for best Father's Day gifts. In addition, the company's Web site boasts testimonial after testimonial supporting the electric bike. Customers delight in using the bike for everything from commuting

and running errands to enhancing business services. Says one thrilled owner, "this is the first bike I ever had that's built like a BMW!" After viewing the video featuring eGO vehicles, answer the following questions about new-product development.

The year was 1976. Sony was entering into a format war with other consumer electronics manufacturers. The victor would capture the prize of owning the consumer home video market. Wait a minute. . . is this 1976, or is it 2006? Actually, it could be either. In 1976, Sony introduced the first VCR for home use. Called the Betamax, it was as big as a microwave oven and cost a whopping $1,295 (more than $6,000 in today's money). A year later, RCA was the k s t of many manufacturers to introduce a VCR using a different technology: VH;S. In terms of image quality, Beta was considered superior to VHS. Sony also had the advantage of being first to market. But VHS machines were cheaper and allowed longer recording times (initially, four hours versus Beta's two hours). In addition, there were far more movies avail-

able for purchase or rent in VHS than in Beta. Ultimately, consumers decided that those features were more important. VHS quickly surpassed Beta in market share, eventually wiping out Beta entirely. In 1988, after an eight-year battle, Sony surrendered by making the switch from Beta to. VHS.

1. Describe eGO's design process. How is it similar to the process detailed in the chapter? 2. How did eGO manage its lim.ited channel options to distribute the new product?

3. Visit eGO's Web site to learn more about products the company offers. What stage of the product life cycle is the eGO vehicle experiencing?

TWO MODERN TECHNOLOGIES: BLU-RAY Today, once again, Sony finds itself gearing up for a format war in the consumer home video market. This time, Sony will go to battle with Blu-ray technology, pitted against the competing HD DVD format. As in 1976, the two technologies will compete for dominance of the home video market, now worth more than $24 billion. Since the first DVD

players appeared in 1997, many companies have been working on a format capable of delivering high-definition video to the home market. Of the many technologies under development, Blu-ray and HD DVD have emerged as the frontrunners. Blu-ray was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a coalition of companies that includes Sony, Hitachi, Pioneer, Philips, Panasonic, Sarnsung, LG, Sharp, Apple, HP, and a host of other companies. HD DVD was developed by a similar coalition and is being backed commercially by Toshiba, Sanyo, Kenwood, Intel, and NEC, among others. Although each of the technologies was developed by a coalition of companies, Sony and Toshiba appear to be the dominant players in their respective camps. And whereas Sony stood pretty much alone in pitting Beta against VHS, its Blu-ray forum has more corporate firepower in this battle. In a situation where the differences between the two technologies seem critical, the formats are surprisingly similar. Both use physical discs that are identical in diameter and thickness to current DVD discs. This allows the developers of the new-generation players to make them backward compatible (able to play previous-generation DVDs). Additionally, each technology employs a blue laser of the same wave length, as well as similar video encoding and basic copyright protection features.

Despite the similarities, the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats have notable differences. Interestingly, some of the key differences likely to affect the success of the two new DVD formats are the same features that differentiated Beta and VHS 30 years ago. Specifically, both sides are vying for image quality, disc capacity, price, and availability of content advantages. At least initially, Blu-ray captures the quality advantage in this race. However, both Blu-ray and HD DVD produce high-definition video far superior to current DVD images, and the quality difference between the two may be indistinguishable by the average human eye. Although Blu-ray and HD DVD discs look identical, there are fundamental differences in the way the discs are put together. Each technology utilizes multiple layers of data encoding, but Blu-ray uses more layers and can store more data on each layer. Thus, Blu-ray discs can store far more information-up to 200 GB versus HD DVD's 90 GB. For home video, this means that a single Blu-ray disc can hold longer movies. "Capacity is always going to be your number-one concern," says Andy Parsons, spokesman for the Blu-ray Disc Association and senior vice president of advanced product development for Pioneer. However, whereas capacity was critical in Beta versus VHS, many observers believe that it will be less of an issue today. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs will have more than enough capacity to hold a feature-length high-definition film. But Parsons is quick to point out that the consumers really like the bonus features on DVDs, so much so that many titles now come in two-disc sets-one disc for the movie and the other for bonus features. "We . . . have learned. . . not to try to squeeze the most we can out of mid-

'90s technology, which is what the HD DVD guys have done." Even so, given the compact size of modern discs, capacity may be less of an issue than it was when video tapes were the size of paperback books. Additionally, it has yet to be determined how many layers could be added to either technology, ultimately affecting data capacity. Whether or not capacity emerges as an important feature, price is a critical issue. Toshiba introduced the first HD DVD players in April of 2006 at price points of $499 and $799. Pioneer introduced the first Blu-ray machine in June of 2006 with a much higher price tag of $1,800. This price difference parallels that of Beta versus VHS in the 1970s. However, Andy Parsons shares some insights on the implications of Toshiba's introductory strategy: As part of a marketing strategy, certain companies such as Toshiba say, "Even though it costs us this much money to make this product, we're going to price it lower, even if it's below our factory cost, because taking that kind of loss up front might help to get the market populated with our product and help accelerate.adoption." That kind of thinking is generally not very successful, because it ignores one very important element: You have to build awareness for the new technology before you can assume that price is an important or overriding factor. This is why we have a natural curve with an earlyadopter group of people who are very focused on technology and performance. Right now in this space, the big buzzword is 1080P progressive scan, 24 frames per second, full-resolution HD TV-this is the Holy Grail, because it's the closest you can get to a theater experience in terms of frame rates, and [it's] a hot button for people who are following this story at the consumer level. Consumers interested in buying technology that gives them the best display or audio quality won't balk at the price. This is why our player is $1,800. We focused on getting 1080P, because that is somethingwe knew would resonate with the initial target market, whereas the $499 strategy is probably going off in the wrong direction, because the folks who are really paying attention to this right now want the highest resolution. Taking another cue from Beta versus VHS, the Blu-ray and HD DVD camps have fought to get the support of major movie studios. The idea is that the format offering more movies will have the advantage. As both technologies come to market, Blu-ray has signed seven studios; HD DVD has signed only three. And yet, although most studios are backing only one technology at this point, Warner Bros. indicates that it will ultimately release movies in both formats. Other studios may well pursue this same strategy. In the Beta versus VHS competition, image quality, capacity, price, and content availability were the deciding factors. In the current format war, only time will tell if these points of differentiation will have the same impact. But the (case con tin ues)

Chapter 9 New-Product Development and Product Life-Cycle Strategies

279

:

HD DVD forum claims that new issues this time around will give its technology the advantage. For starters, manufacturing costs for Blu-ray will be significantly higher. (The Blu-ray camp counters that the cost difference is minimal and will likely disappear as volumes increase.) HD DVD software will also allow consumers to make copies of their discs to computer hard drives and portable devices. And with its iHD technology, HD DVD discs promise greater interactivity by allowing for enhanced content and navigation, as well as fancy features such as picture-in-picture capability. However, additional new issues could tilt the scales in favor of Blu-ray. Although Toshiba and HD DVD enjoy a brief first-to-market advantage, Blu-ray will likely experience a huge bump in market share when Sony introduces its long-awaited PlayStation 3 gaming platform in late 2006. The PlayStation 3 not only uses Blu-ray technology for its game discs, it will be able to play all Blu-ray movies as well. This could put millions of Blu-ray players into homes very quickly via the video consoles.

.

Drawing comparisons to the BetaIVHS format war assumes that one of the two current competing formats will ultimately win and the other will die out. However, two other possibilities exist. First, both formats could succeed and do well. Most of the issues mentioned previously may become nonissues as the Blu-ray and HD DVD technologies evolve. Either of the two technologies could adopt features of the other. Additionally, at some point, hardware manufacturers may well release dual-format players, capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. Such a development could reduce the relevance of format labels. Stephen Nickerson, senior vice president at Warner Home Video, believes that both formats could easily succeed. Although most analysts compare the DVD format war to the VCR format war, he suggests another analogy. "The [video] games industry since the early '90s has had two or three incompatible formats and it hasn't slowed the adoption of game platforms." However, there is another potential outcome. Both formats might fail. Ted Schadler, analyst with Forrester Research, believes that most people are missing an important point. "The irony of this format war is that it comes at the tail end of the century-long era of physical media. While a high-definition video format does bring benefits over today's standard-definition discs, in movies as in music, consumers are moving beyond shiny discs." Schadler's statement refers to the fact that the consumption of all kinds of entertainment products, even television programming, has evolved dramatically since the mid-1990s. Consumers have far more options than they used to, and the dust has yet to settle on which options will dominate for any given type of product.

280

Part 3

For home video, more customers are choosing ondemand, nonphysical media, including online video and video-on-demand television. One in six cable subscribers has demonstrated significant interest in watching video-ondemand. As cable providers increase their video libraries and technologies improve, that number will only grow. Internet video is also spreading rapidly, with 46 percent of online consumers now watching movies via the Web. Additionally, with the success of the video Pod, major Hollywood studios aren't just considering which DVD formats to support. They're assessing how they can make money by selling movies directly to consumers in a file format that can be played on portable devices. According to Ted Schadler, the device more consumers age 12 to 21 now say they can't live without isn't their TV, it's their PC. Even Bill Gates has his doubts about the current DVD format war. "Understand that this is the last physical format there will ever be. Everything's going to be streamed directly or on a hard disk." Although these predictions may very well be true, there is likely still plenty of steam left in the DVD market. Physical discs still hold many advantages over the nonphysical media. Even with the significant threat of VHS, Beta survived for eight years. And no format will last forever. Only nine years passed between the introductions of the first home DVD and HD DVD players. So although there's clearly a home video war looming, the big questions concern who will be fighting and on what fronts.

1. Classify the high-definition DVD market using the

product life-cycle framework. Based on this analysis, what objectives and strategies should Sony and the other 'competitiors pursue? Are any of the competitiors deviating from this formula? 2. As sales of the new DVD players increase, what will happen to the characteristics of the home video market and the strategies employed by Sony and other competitors? 3. Analyze the development of Blu-ray and HD DVD according to the stages of the new-product development process. 4. Who are the current combatants in the battle for the . home video market? Who will they be in five years? Sources: Beth Snyder Bulik, "Marketing War Looms for Dueling DVD Formats," Advertising Age, April 10, 2006, p. 20; Gary Gentile, "BetaNHS-Like Battle Shaping Up for New High-Def DVDs," Associated Press Worldstream, January 6, 2006; AM Steffora Mutschler, "The Convergence War," Electronic Business, May 1,2006, p. 44; Sue Zeidler, "Hold On Tight; Going to the Store to Rent a DVD May Soon Be a Thing of the Past," Culgary Sun, p. 40; information on Beta and VHS accessed online at www.totalrewind.org.

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

inding the right pricing strategy and implementing it well can be critical to a company's success-even to its survival. Perhaps no company knows this better than giant toy retailer Toys 'R' Us. More than three decades ago, Toys 'R' Us taught smaller independent toy retailers and department-store chains in its industry a hard pricing lesson, driving many of them to extinction. In recent years, however, Toys 'R' Us has gotten a bitter taste of its own pricing medicine in return. In the late 1970s, Toys 'R' Us emerged as a toy retailing "category killer," offering consumers a vast selection of toys at everyday low prices. The then-prevalent smaller toy stores, and toy sections of larger department stores, soon fell by the wayside because they couldn't match Toys 'R' Us's selection, convenience, and low prices. Throughout the 1980s and early 1 9 9 0 ~ Toys ~ 'R' Us grew explosively to becornelhe nation's largest toy retailer, grabbing as much as a 25 percent share of the U.S. toy market. However, in the 1990s, Toys 'R' Us's heady success seemed to vanish almost overnight with the emergence of-you guessed it-Wal-Mart as a toy retailing force. Wal-Mart offered toy buyers an even more compelling value proposition. Like Toys 'R' Us, it offered good toy selection and convenience. But on prices, it did Toys 'R' Us one better. Wal-Mart offered not just eveyday low prices on toys, it offered rockbottom prices. Says one analyst, "With its mammoth stores, diverse array of products, and super efficient supply chain, Wal-Mart can provide consumers good quality, high levels of choice and convenience, and [incredibly low1 prices." What's more, he continues, "Because it is a mass retailer with a broad, diverse inventory, Wal-Mart can afford to use toys as a ,loss-leader, losing money on toy purchases to lure in customers who then purchase higher-margin goods. Focused retailers such as Toys 'R' Us just don't have that luxury." In 1998, Wal-Mart pushed Toys 'R' Us aside to become the country's largest toy seller. Toys 'R' Us fought back by trying to match Wal-Mart's super low prices, but with disastrous results. Consider this Business Week account of the 2003 Christmas season: He sings, he dances, he shakes it all about. For thousands of toddlers, Hokey Pokey Elmo was one of the great things about Christmas, 2003. But for Toys 'R' Us, Elmo was the fuzzy red embodiment of all that went wrong: He was just too cheap. In October, two months before the heart of the holiday rush, WalMart stores surprised all of its competition by dropping Elmo's price from $25 to $19.50, a full $4.50 below what many retailers had paid for it. Within days,

Toys 'R' Us dropped its price to $19.99. The price war dominoed all the way down the toy aisle. "Our choice was shortterm profit &. long-term market share; we chose to protect market share," says [former] CEO John Eyler, who thinks all stores could have sold out of the popular doll at $29.99. That's profit Toys 'R' Us couldn't afford to lose. The holiday season [its third disappointing one in a row] resulted in a 5 percent drop in sales at Toys 'R' Us stores open at least a year. Net income for the year fell 27 percent. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, Ewasl all smiles. . . . CEO Lee Scott called 2003 "an excellent toy season" and toys "a very profitable category with a very strong gross margin." Clearly, Toys 'R' Us has little hope of competing on price with Wal-Mart. "I wouldn't want to play that game," says [an industry expert]. By early 2005, Wal-Mart held a 25 percent share of the toy market; Toys 'R' Us's share had fallen to 15 percent. Later that year, new ownership took Toys 'R' Us private. Despite rumors that the once-dominant toy retailer would exit the toy business altogether and focus on its growing and profitable Babies 'R' Us unit, the new owners vowed to remain a player in the toy industry. However, Toys 'R' Us is now playing out a dramatically new game plan. For starters, management has closed nearly 100 underperforming stores to cut costs, and it's refocusing its marketing strategy. For example, the chain has stepped back from cut-throat price wars that it simply can't win. Instead, it's dropping slow-selling products and emphasizing top-selling brands and higher-margin exclusive items, such as special Bratz or Barbie dolls sold only at its stores. And in an effort to differentiate itself from the likes of Wal-Mart and Target, Toys 'R' Us is making a big push to improve store atmospheres, shopper experiences, and customer service. It's cleaning up its stores, uncluttering its aisles, and hiring more helpful employees who can offer customers toy-buying advice. Says CEO Gerald Storch, "When you go to a large, multiproduct discount chain, you'll be lucky to find someone who can point you to the toy department or will even take you there, much less answer specific questions. When a customer comes in our

284

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

/

1

store, our people can tell them what's a great toy for a ten-year-old boy for their birthday, because all we do is toys." Storch hopes that brighter, less-cluttered stores and better service will support higher prices and margins. Still, Toys 'R' Us faces an uphill battle in its efforts to win back the now-price-sensitive toy buyers it helped to create decades ago. Consider this example.

t

Aurore Boone of Alpharetta, Georgia, was recently at her local Wal-Mart checking out kids' bikes. She shops at Toys 'R' Us to see what's on the shelves, but of the roughly $500 she and her husband Mark spend on toys a year, more than half goes to Wal-Mart, the rest to stores such as Target. It's cheaper, and she can do her other shopping there, too. It isn't a matter of whether Toys 'R' Us can selltoys-with more than $11 billion in sales, the company remains one of the world's largest retailers. It's a matter of whether Toys 'R' Us can sell toys profitably (despite big sales, it's still posting loses). And to do that, it must find the right customer value and pricing formulas. As Business Weekconcludes: "It's a harsh new world for Toys 'R' Us, which, as the industry's original 800-pound gorilla, wiped out legions of small toy stores in the '60s and '70s with its cut-price, no-frills, big-box outlets. Now, having taught consumers that toys should be cheap, the chain is finding that they learned the lesson all too we1Ln2

Price The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.

Companies today face a fierce and fast-changing pricing environment. Increasing customer price consciousness has put many companies in a "pricing vise." "Thank the Wal-Mart phenomenon," says one analyst. "These days, we're all cheapskates in search of a spend-less In response, it seems that almost every company is looking for ways to slash prices, ~trategy."~ and that is hurting their profits. Yet, cutting prices is often not the best answer. Reducing prices unnecessarily can lead to lost profits and damaging price wars. It can signal to customers that the price is more important than the customer value a brand delivers. Instead, companies should sell value, not price. They should persuade customers that paying a higher price for the company's brand is justified by the greater value they gain. The challenge is to find the price that will let the company make a fair profit by getting paid for the customer value it creates. "Give people something of value," says Ronald Shaich, CEO of Panera Bread Company, "and they'll happily pay for it."4 In this chapter and the next, we focus on the process of setting prices. This chapter defines prices, looks at the factors marketers must consider when setting prices, and examines general pricing approaches. In the next chapter, we look at pricing strategies for new-product pricing, product mix pricing, price adjustments for buyer and situational factors, and price changes.

E! Pricing: The challenge is to harvest the customer value the company creates. Says Panera's CEO, pictured here, "Give people something of value, and they'll happily pay for it."

In the narrowest sense, price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. More broadly, price is the sum of all the values that customers give up in order to gain the benefits of having or using a product or service. Historically, price has been the major factor affecting buyer choice. In recent decades, nonprice factors have gained increasing importance. However, price still remains one of the most important elements determining a firm's market share and profitability. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all other elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible marketing mix elements. Unlike prod-

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

285

uct features and channel commitments, prices can be changed quickly. At the same time, pricing is the number-one problem facing many marketing executives, and many companies do not handle pricing well. One frequent problem is that companies are too quick to reduce prices in order to get a sale rather than convincing buyers that their product's greater value is worth a higher price. Other common mistakes include pricing that is too cost oriented rather than customer-value oriented, and pricing that does not take the rest of the marketing mix into account. Some managers view pricing as a big headache, preferring instead to focus on the other marketing mix elements. However, smart managers treat pricing as a key strategic tool for creating and capturing customer value. Prices have a direct impact on a firm's bottom line. According to one expert, "a 1 percent price improvement generates a 12.5 percent profit improvement for most organi~ations."~ More importantly, as a part of a company's overall value proposition, price plays a key role in creating customer value and building customer relationships. "Instead of running away from pricing," says the expert, ''savvy marketers are embracing it."

The price the company charges will fall somewhere between one that is too high to produce any demand and one that is too low to produce a profit. Figure 10.1 summarizes the major considerations in setting price. Customer perceptions of the product's value set the ceiling for prices. If customers perceive that the price is greater than the product's value, they will not buy the product. Product costs set the floor for prices. If the company prices the product below its costs, company profits will suffer. In setting its price between these two extremes, the company must consider a number of other internal and external factors, including its overall marketing strategy and mix, the nature of the market and demand, and competitors' strategies and prices. In the end, the customer will decide whether a product's price is right. Pricing decisions, like other marketing mix decisions, must start with customer value. When customers buy a product, they exchange something of value (the price) in order to get something of value (the benefits of having or using the product). Effective, customer-oriented pricing involves understanding how much value consumers place on the benefits they receive from the product and setting a price that captures this value.

Value-based pricing Setting prices based on buyers' perceptions of value rather than on the seller's cost.

Good pricing begins with a complete understanding of the value that a product or service creates for customers. Value-based pricing uses buyers' perceptions of value, not the seller's cost, as the key to pricing. Value-based pricing means that the marketer cannot design a product and marketing program and then set the price. Price is considered along with the other marketing mix variables before the marketing program is set. Figure 10.2 compares value-based pricing with cost-based pricing. Cost-based pricing is product driven. The company designs what it considers to be a good product, adds up the costs of making the product, and sets a price that covers costs plus a target profit. Marketing must then convince buyers that the product's value at that price justifies its purchase. If the price turns out to be too high, the company must settle for lower markups or lower sales, both resulting in disappointing profits. Value-based pricing reverses this process. The company sets its target price based on customer. perceptions of the product value. The targeted value and price then drive

F Considerations in setting price Price ceiling No demand above this price

$Y,NatU -:. tz

e g

286

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Cost-based pricing Value-based pricing versus cost-based pricing SourceThomasTNagleand Reed K. Holden, The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing, 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 20021, p. 4.

Value-based pricing

decisions about product design and what costs can be incurred. As a result, pricing begins with analyzing consumer needs and value perceptions, and price is set to match consumers' perceived value. It's important to remember that "good value" is not the same as "low price." For example, prices for a Hermes Birkin Bag start at $6,000-a less expensive handbag might carry as much, but some consumers place great value on the intangibles they receive from a one-of-a kind handmade bag that has a year-long waiting list. Similarly, some car buyers consider the luxurious Bentley Continental GT automobile a real value, even at an eye-popping price of Stay with me here, because I'm about to [tell you why] a certain automobile costing $150,000 is not actually expensive, but is in fact a tremendous value. Every Bentley GT is built by hand, an Old World bit of automaking requiring 160 hours per vehicle. Craftsmen spend 18 hours simply stitching the perfectly joined leather of the GT's steering wheel, almost as long as it takes to assemble an entire VW Golf. The results are impressive: Dash and doors are mirrored with walnut veneer, floor pedals are carved from aluminum, window and seat toggles are cut from actual metal rather than plastic, and every air vent is perfectly chromed. . . . The sum of all this is a fitted cabin that approximates that of a $300,000 vehicle, matched to an engine the equal of a $200,000 automobile, within a car that has brilliantly incorporated . . . technological sophistication. As I said, the GT is a bargain. [Just ask anyone on the lengthy waiting list.] The waiting time to bring home your very own GT is currently half a year.6

Value-based pricing: "Good value" is not the same as "low price." Some car buyers consider the luxurious Bentley Continental GT automobile a real value, even at an eye-popping price of $150,000.

A company using value-based pricing must find out what value buyers assign to different competitive offers. However, companies often find it hard to measure the value customers will attach to its product. For example, calculating the cost of ingredients in a meal at a fancy restaurant is relatively easy. But assigning a value to other satisfactions such as taste, environment, relaxation, conversation, and status is very hard. And these values will vary both for different consumers and different situations. Still, consumers will use these perceived values to evaluate a product's price, so the company must

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

287

work to measure them. Sometimes, companies ask consumers how much they would pay for a basic product and for each benefit added to the offer. Or a company might conduct experiments to test the perceived value of different product offers. According to an old Russian proverb, there are two fools in every market-one who asks too much and one who asks too little. If the seller charges more than the buyers' perceived value, the company's sales will suffer. If the seller charges less, its products sell very well. But they produce less revenue than they would if they were priced at the level of perceived value. We now examine two types of value-based pricing: good-value pricing and value-added pricing.

: ~ ~ o d - T $ Priei32g Tal~~~ During the past decade, marketers have noted a fundamental shift in consumer attitudes toward price and quality. Many companies have changed their pricing approaches to bring them into line with changing economic conditions and consumer price perceptions. More and more, marketers have adopted good-value pricing strategies-offering just the right comGood-value pricing bination of quality and good service at a fair price. Offering just the right In many cases, this has involved introducing less-expensive versions of established, combination of quality and brand name products. Fast-food restaurants such as Taco Bell and McDonald's offer "value good service at a fair price. menus." Armani offers the less-expensive, more casual Armani Exchange fashion line. Procter & Gamble created Charmin Basic-it is "slightly less 'squeezably soft' but it's a lot less pricey than Procter & Gamble's other toilet paper." It's "Soft. Strong. S e n ~ i b l e . "In ~ other cases, good-value pricing has involved redesigning existing brands to offer more quality for a given price or the same quality for less. An important type of good-value pricing at the retail level is everyday low pricing [EDLP). EDLP involves charging a constant, everyday low price with few or no temporary price discounts. In contrast, high-low pricing involves charging higher prices on an everyday basis but running frequent promotions to lower prices temporarily on selected items. In recent years, high-low pricing has given way to EDLP in retail settings ranging from Saturn car dealerships to Giant Eagle supermarkets to furniture store - --. ..-,.-,.-. "--.-. ..... , . .. .. . Room & Board. The king of EDLP is Wal-Mart, which practiGood-value pricing: Procter & Gamble's Charmin Basic is still "squeezably soft" cally defined the concept. Except for a few sale but it's a lot less pricey than P&G's other toilet paper. It's "the quality toilet items every month, Wal-Mart promises everyday tissue at the price you'll love." low prices on everything it sells. In contrast, Kmart's recent attempts to match Wal-Mart's EDLP strategy failed. To offer everyday low prices, a company must first have everyday low costs. However, because Krnart's costs are much higher than Wal-Mart's, it could not make money at the lower prices and quickly abandoned the a t t e m ~ t . ~ ROLLOVER THE VACKACLSTO LEARN MORE ABOUT 51215 ANOVIIRIETILS.

,

Value-added pricing Attaching value-added features and services to differentiatea company's offers and to support charging higher prices.

In many business-to-business marketing situations, the challenge is to build the company's pricing power-its power to escape price competition and to justify higher prices and margins without losing market share. To retain pricing power, a firm mustretain or build the value of its market offering. This is especially true for suppliers of commodity products, which are characterized by little differentiation and intense price competition. If companies "rely on price to capture and retain business, they reduce whatever they're selling to a commodity," says an analyst. "Once that happens, there is no customer 10yalty."~ To increase their pricing power, many companies adopt value-added pricing strateges. Rather than cutting prices to match competitors, they attach value-added features and services to differentiate their offers and thus support higher prices (see Real Marketing 10.1). "Even in today's economic environment, it's not about price," says a pricing expert. "It's about keeping customers loyal by providing service they can't find anywhere else."1•‹

288

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

When a company finds its major competitors offering a similar product at a lower price, the natural teny to match or beat that price. Although the idea of undercutting competitors' prices and watching customers flock to you is tempting, there are dangers. Successive rounds of pricecutting can lead to price wars that erode the profit margins of all competitors in an industry. Or worse, discounting a product can cheapen it in the minds of customers, greatly reducing the seller's power to maintain profitable prices in the long term. So, how can a company keep its pricing power when a competitor undercuts its price? Often, the best strategy is not to price below the competitor, but rather to price above and convince customers that the product is worth it. The company should ask, "What is the value of the product to the customer?" and then stand up for what the product is worth. In this way, the company shifts the focus from price to value. But what if the company is operating in a "commodity" business, in which the products of all competitors seem pretty much alike? In such cases, the company must find ways to "decommoditize" its products-to create superior value for customers. It can do this by developing value-added features and services that differentiate its offer and justify higher prices and margins. Here are some examples of how suppliers are using value-added features and services to give them a competitive edge: -

Caterpillar: Caterpillar charges premium prices for its heavy construction and mining equipment by convincing customers that its products and service justify every additional cent-or, rather, the extra tens of thousands of dollars. Caterpillar typically reaps a 20 to 30 percent price premium over competitors that can amount to an extra $200,000 or more on one of those huge yellow million-dollar dump trucks. When a large potential customer says, "I can get it for less from a competitor," the Caterpillar dealer doesn't discount the price. Instead, the dealer explains that, even at the higher price,

Cost-based pricing Setting prices based on the costs for producing, distributing, and selling the product plus a fair rate of return for effort and risk.

Fixed costs (overhead) Costs that do not vary with production or sales level.

Variable costs Costs that vary directly with the level of production.

Cat offers the best value. Caterpillar equipment is designed with modular components that can be removed and repaired quickly, minimizing machine downtime. Caterpillar dealers carry an extensive parts inventory and guarantee delivery within 48 hours anywhere in the world, again minimizing downtime. Cat's products are designed to be rebuilt, providing a "second life" that competitors cannot match. As a result, Caterpillar used-equipment prices are often 20 percent to 30 percent higher. Beyond its high-quality equipment and maintenance, Caterpillar offers a wide range of value-adding services, from financing and insurance to equipment training and investment management advice. In all, the dealer explains, even at the higher initial price, Caterpillar equipment delivers the lowest total cost per cubic yard of earth moved, ton of coal uncovered, or mile of road graded over the life of the product-guaranteed! Most customers seem to agree with Caterpillar's value proposition-the marketleading company dominates its markets with a more than 37 percent worldwide market share. And the big cat just keeps purring. In the past two years, sales are up 60 percent and profits have rocketed 250 percent. Despite its higher prices, demand is so strong that Caterpillar is having trouble making equipment fast enough to fill orders. Pioneer Hi-Bred International: A major producer of commercial seeds and other agricultural products often thought of as commodities, DuPont subsidiary Pioneer Hi-Bred lnternational (PHI) hardly acts like a commodity supplier. Its patented hybrid seeds yield 10 percent more crops than competitors' seeds. PHI'S researchers harvest tens of thousands of test plots worldwide each year to perfect product yields and traits. But beyond producing a superior product, PHI also provides a bundle of value-added services. For example, it equips its sales reps with laptop PCs and software that allow them to provide farmers with customized information and advice. The rep can plug in the type of hybrid that a farmer is using, along with infor-

Whereas customer-value perceptidils set the price ceiling, costs set the floor for the price that the company can charge. Cost-basedpricing involves setting prices based o n the costs for producing, distributing, and selling the product plus a fair rate of return for its effort and risk. A company's costs may be an important element in its pricing strategy. M a n y companies, such as Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart, and Dell, w o r k to become the "low-cost producers" in their industries. Companies w i t h lower costs can set lower prices that result in greater sales and profits.

A company's costs take t w o forms, f i x e d a n d variable. Fixed costs (also k n o w n as overhead) are costs that do n o t vary w i t h production or sales level. F o r example, a company must pay each month's b i l l s for rent, heat, interest, and executive salaries, whatever the company's output. Variable costs vary directly with the level o f production. Each PC produced b y HewlettPackard involves a cost of computer chips, wires, plastic, packaging, and other inputs. These costs tend to be the same for each unit produced. They are called variable because their total varies w i t h the number of units produced. Total costs are the sum o f the fixed and variable

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

289

sales for Microsystems, a softwarecompany. "My product is twice as much as my nearest competitor's, but we sell as much as-if not more than--our competition." Rather than getting into price wars, Microsystems adds value to its products by adding new components and services. It builds close, value-added relationships with customers. "We foster strong working relationships with our clients,"declares the company's Web site, "and have built our industry-leading reputation on going the extra mile for them." As a result, customers "get more for their money," says Beckman. "We get the price because we understand what people want." When customers see the extra value, price becomes secondary. Ultimately, Beckman Value added: Caterpillar offer its dealers a wide range of value-added services-from asserts, "let the customer decide whether guaranteed parts delivery to investment management advice and equipment training. Such the price you're charging is worth all the added value supports a higher price. things they're getting." What if the answer is no? Beckman would suggest that dropping mation about pricing, acreage, and yield characteristics, and the price is the last thing you want to do. Instead, look to the then advise the farmer on how to do a better job of farm manvalue of value added. agement. The reps can also supply farmers with everything from agricultural research reports to assistance in comparison shopping. To add even more value, PHI offers farmers crop insurSources: William F. Kendy, "The Price Is Too High," Selling Power, April ance, financing, and marketing services. 2006, pp, 30-33; Ian Brat, "Caterpillar Posts 38% Profit Rise, Raises Backing its claim "We believe in customer success" with Outlook on Strong Demand," Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2006, p. A2; superior products and value-added services gives PHI plenty of Michael Arndt, "Cat Claws Its Way into Services,"BusinessWeek, pricing power. Despite charging a significant price premium-or December 5, 2005, pp. 56-59; Erin Stout, "Keep Them Coming Back for perhaps because of it-the company's share of the North More," Sales & MarketingManagement, February 2002, pp. 51-52; American corn market has grown from 35 percent during the "Global Construction & Farm Machinery: Industry Profile,"Datamonitor, mid-1980s to its current level of 44 percent. June 2006, accessed at w.datamonitor.com; and information Microsyslems Engineering Company: "The way we sell on value accessed online at w.pioneer.com, www.caterpillar.com, and is by differentiating ourselves,"says Mark Beckman, director of www.microsystems.com/about.php, December 2006.

Total costs The sum of the fixed and variable costs for any given level of production.

costs for any given level of production. Management wants to charge a price that will at least cover the total production costs at a given level of production. The company must watch its costs carefully. If it costs the company more than it costs competitors to produce and sell its product, the company must charge a higher price or make less profit, putting it at a competitive disadvantage.

To price wisely, management needs to know how its costs vary with different levels of production. For example, suppose Texas Instruments (TI) has built a plant to produce 1,000 calculators per day. Figure 10.3A shows the typical shortrun average cost (SRtiC) curve. It shows that the cost per calculator is high if TI'S factory produces only a few per day. But as production moves up to 1,000 calculators per day, average cost falls. This is because fixed costs are spread over more units, with each one bearing a smaller share of the fixed cost. TI can try to produce more than 1,000 calculators per day, but average costs will increase because the plant becomes inefficient. Workers wait for machines, the machines break down more often, and workers get in each other's way.

290

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Cost per unit at different levels of production per period

1,000 Quantity produced per day A. Cost behavior in a fixed-size plant

1,0002,000 3,0004,000 Quantity produced per day B. Cost behavior over different-size plants

If TI believed it could sell 2,000 calculators a day, it should consider building a larger plant. The plant would use more efficient machinery and work arrangements. Also, the unit cost of producing 2,000 calculators per day would be lower than the unit cost of producing 1,000 units per day, as shown in the long-run average cost (LRAC) curve (Figure 10.3B). In fact, a 3,000-capacity plant would even be more efficient, according to Figure 10.3B. But a 4,000-daily production plant would be less efficient because of increasing diseconomies of scale-too many workers to manage, paperwork slowing things down, and so on. Figure 10.3B shows that a 3,000-daily production plant is the best size to build if demand is. strong enough to support this level of production.

Experience curve (learning curve) The drop in the average perunit production cost that comes with accumulated production experience.

Cost-plus pricing Adding a standard markup to the cost of the product.

Suppose TI runs a plant that produces 3,000 calculators per day. As TI gains experience in producing calculators, it learns how to do it better. Workers learn shortcuts and become more familiar with their equipment. With practice, the work becomes better organized, and TI finds better equipment and production processes. With higher volume, TI becomes more efficient and gains economies of scale. As a result, average cost tends to fall with accumulated production experience. This is shown in Figure 1 0 . 4 . Thus, ~ ~ the average cost of producing the first 100,000 calculators is $10 per calculator. When the company has produced the first 200,000 calculators, the average cost has fallen to $9. After its accumulated production experience doubles again td 400,000, the average cost is $7. This drop in the average cost with accumulated production experience is called the experience curve (or the learning curve). If a downward-sloping experience curve exists, this is highly significant for the company. Not only will the company's unit production cost fall, but it will fall faster if the company makes and sells more during a given time period. But the market must stand ready to buy the higher output. And to take advantage of the experience curve, TI must get a large market share early in the product's life cycle. This suggests the following pricing strategy: TI should price its calculators low; its sales will then increase, and its costs will decrease through gaining more experience, and then it can lower its prices further. Some companies have built successful strategies around the experience curve. For example, Bausch & Lomb solidified its position in the soft contact lens market by using computerized lens design and steadily expanding its one Soflens plant. As a result, its market share climbed steadily to 65 percent. However, a single-minded focus on reducing costs and exploiting the experience curve will not always work. Experience-curve pricing carries some major risks. The aggressive pricing might give the product a cheap image. The strategy also assumes that competitors are weak and not willing to fight it out by meeting the company's price cuts. Finally, while the company is building volume under one technology, a competitor may find a lower-cost technology that lets it start at prices lower than those of the market leader, who still operates on the old experience curve.

The simplest pricing method is cost-plus pricing-adding a standard markup to the cost of the product. Construction companies, for example, submit job bids by estimating the total project cost and adding a standard markup for profit. Lawyers, accountants, and other professionals tmicallv rice bv addine a standard marlcur, to their costs. Some sellers tell their cus-

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

Cost per unit as a function of accumulated production: The experience curve

$10 --g $8 .3

$

$6

100,000 200,000 400,000 800,000 Accumulated production

tomers they will charge cost plus a specified markup; for example, aerospace companies price this way to the government. To illustrate markup pricing, suppose a toaster manufacturer had the following costs and expected sales: Variable cost Fixed costs Expected unit sales

$10 $300,000 50,000

Then the manufacturer's cost per toaster is given by: Unit Cost = Variable Cost +

Fixed Costs = Unit Sales

+

$300,000 50,000 - $I6

Now suppose the manufacturer wants to earn a 20 percent markup on sales. The manufacturer's markup price is given by:12 Markup Price =

Unit Cost

--=$16

(1- Desired Return on Sales) - 1 - .2

$20

The manufacturer would charge dealers $20 per toaster and make a profit of $4 per unit. The dealers, in turn, will mark up the toaster. If dealers want to earn 50 percent on the sales price, they will mafk up the toaster to $40 ($20 + 50% of $40). This number is equivalent to a markup on cost of 100 percent ($20/$20). Does using standard markups to set prices make sense? Generally, no. Any pricing method that ignores demand and competitor prices is not likely to lead to the best price. Such cost-plus pricing wrongly assumes that prices can be set without affecting sales volume. In our toaster example, suppose that consumers saw the $40 retail price as too high relative to competitors' prices, reducing demand to only 30,000 toasters instead of 50,000. Then the producer's unit cost would have been higher because the fixed costs are spread over fewer units, and the realized percentage markup on sales would have been lower. Markup pricing works only if that price actually brings in the expected level of sales. Still, markup pricing remains popular for many reasons. First, sellers are more certain about costs than about demand. By tying the price to cost, sellers simplify pricing-they do not have to make frequent adjustments as demand changes. Second, when all firms in the industry use this pricing method, prices tend to be similar and price competition is thus minimized. Third, many people feel that cost-plus pricing is fairer to both buyers and sellers. Sellers earn a fair return on their investment but do not take advantage of buyers when buyers' demand becomes great.

Break-even pricing (target profit pricing) Setting prices to break even on the costs of making and marketing a product; or setting prices to make a target profit.

Another cost-oriented pricing approach is break-even pricing (or a variation called target profit pricing). The firm tries to determine the price at which it will break even or make the target profit it is seeking. Such pricing is used by General Motors, which prices its automobiles to achieve a 15 to 20 percent profit on its investment. This pricing method is also used by public utilities, which are constrained to make a fair return on their investment. Target pricing uses the concept of a break-even chart, which shows the total cost and total revenue expected at different sales volume levels. Figure 10.5 shows a break-even chart for the toaster manufacturer discussed here. Fixed costs are $300,000 regardless of sales volume. Variable costs are added to fixed costs to form total costs, which rise with volume. The total

292

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Break-even chart for determining target price

Total revenue

10

30

20

40

50

Sales volume in units (thousands) revenue curve starts at zero and rises with each unit sold. The slope of the total revenue curve reflects the price of $20 per unit. The total revenue and total cost curves cross at 30,000 units. This is the break-even volume. At $20, the company must sell at least 30,000 units to break even; that is, for total revenue to cover total cost. Break-even volume can be calculated using the following formula: Break-Even Volume =

Fixed Cost - $300,000 Price - Variable Cost - $20 - $10 = 30'000

If the company wants to make a target profit, it must sell more than 30,000 units at $20 each. Suppose the toaster manufacturer has invested $1,000,000 in the business and wants to set the price to earn a 20 percent return, or $200,000. In that case, it must sell at least 50,000 units at $20 each. If the company charges a higher price, it will not need to sell as many toasters to achieve its target return. But the market may not buy even this lower volume at the higher price. Much depends on the price elasticity and competitors' prices. The manufacturer should consider different prices and estimate break-even volumes, probable demand, and profits for each. This is done in Table 10.1. The table shows that as price increases, break-even volume drops (column 2). But as price increases, demand for the toasters also falls off (column 3). At the $14 price, because the manufacturer clears only $4 per toaster ($14 less $10 in variable costs), it must sell a very high volume to break even. Even though the low price attracts many buyers, demand still falls below the high break-even point, and the manufacturer loses money. At the other extreme, with a $22 price the manufacturer clears $12 per toaster and must sell only 25,000 units to break even. But at this high price, consumers buy too few toasters, and profits are negative. The table shows that a price of $18 yields the highest profits. Note that none of the prices produce the manufacturer's target profit of $200,000. To achieve this target return, the manufacturer will need to search for ways to lower fixed or variable costs, thus lowering the break-even volume.

hE 10.1 Break-Even Volume and Profits at Different Prices

(1)

(2)

Price

Unit Demand Needed to Break Even

-

' ,

-

-

$14 16 18 20 22 ?-

-

-

-

--

75,000 50,000 37,500 30,000 25,000 .-

-

-

(3) Expected Unit Demand at Given Price -

-

-

- - - ---

71,000 67,000 60,000 42,000 23,000 - - .- - - - - .--

(4) Total Revenue (1) X (3) -

(5) Total Costs*

- --

$ 994,000 1,072,000 1,080,000 840,000 506,000 - - * -

(6) Profit (4) - (5) -

$1,010,000 970,000 900,000 720,000 530,000 --

* Assumes fixed costs of $300,000 and constant unit var~ablecosts of $10.

-

-

-

-$16,000 102,000 180,000 120,000 -$24,000 -

- "

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

293

Customer perceptions of value set the upper limit for prices, and costs set the lower limit. However, in setting prices within these limits, the company must consider a number of other internal and external factors. Internal factors affecting pricing include the company's overall marketing strategy, objectives, and marketing mix, as well as other organizational considerations. External factors include the nature of the market and demand, competitors' strategies and prices, and other environmental factors.

Target costing Pricing that starts with an ideal selling price, then targets costs that will ensure that the price is met.

Price is only one element of the company's broader marketing strategy. Thus, before setting price, the company must decide on its overall marketing strategy for the product or service. If the company has selected its target market and positioning carefully, then its marketing mix strategy, including price, will be fairly straightforward. For example, when Toyota developed its Lexus brand to compete with European luxury-performance cars in the higher-income segment, this required charging a high price. In contrast, when it introduced its Yaris model"the car that you can afford to drive is finally the car you actually want to driveJ'-this positioning required charging a low price. Thus, pricing strategy is largely determined by decisions on market positioning. General pricing objectives might include survival, current profit maximization, market share leadership, or customer retention and relationship building. At a more specific level, a company can set prices to attract new customers or to profitably retain existing ones. It can set prices low to prevent competition &om entering the market or set prices at competitors' levels to stabilize the market. It can price to keep the loyalty and support of resellers or to avoid government intervention. Prices can be reduced temporarily to create excitement for a brand. Or one product may be priced to help the sales of other products in the company's line. Thus, pricing may play an important role in helping to accomplish the company's objectives at many levels. Price is only one of the marketing mix tools that a company uses to achieve its marketing objectives. Price decisions must be coordinated with product design, distribution, and promotion decisions to form a consistent and effective integrated marketing program. Decisions made for other marketing mix variables may affect pricing decisions. For example, a decision to position the product on high-performance quality will mean that the seller must charge a higher price to cover higher costs. And producers whose resellers are expected to support and promote their products may have to build larger reseller margins into their prices. Companies often position their products on price and then tailor other marketing mix decisions to the prices they want to charge. Here, price is a crucial product-positioning factor that defines the product's market, competition, and design. Many firms support such pricepositioning strategies with a technique called target costing, a potent strategic weapon. Target costing reverses the usual process of first designing a new product, determining its cost, and then asking, "Can we sell it for that?" Instead, it starts with an ideal selling price based on customer-value considerations and then targets costs that will ensure that the price is met. P&G used target costing to price and develop its highly successful Crest SpinBrush electric toothbrush: P&G usually prices its goods at a premium. But with Crest SpinBrush, P&Greversed its usual thinking. It started with an attractive low market price and then found a way to make a profit at that price. SpinBrushYsinventors first came up with the idea of a low-priced electric toothbrush while walking through their local Wal-Mart, where they saw Sonicare, Interplak, and other electric toothbrushes priced at more than $50. These pricy brushes held only a fraction of the o.veral1toothbrush market. A less-expensive electric toothbrush, the designers reasoned, would have huge potential. They decided on a target price of just $5, batteries included-only $1more than the most expensive manual brushes-and set out to design a brush they could sell at that price. Every design element was carefully considered with the targeted price in mind. To meet the low price, P&G passed on the usual lavish new-product launch campaign. Instead, to give SpinBrush more point-of-sale impact, it.relied on "Try Me" packaging that allowed consumers to turn the brush on in stores. Target cost pricing has made Crest SpinBrush one of P&G's most successful new products ever. It has now become the nation's best-selling toothbrush, manual or electric, with a more than 40 percent share of the electric toothbrush market.13

294

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy nd Integrated Marketing Mix

A devil on both shoulders. With blissfully dark intentions. the new Cayman just begs to be driven. Beneath sculpted curves sits a 2.7-liter, 245.hp mid.mount engine yearning Lo run. Its rigid body ready to respond instan* la your will. Never has bad felt so good. Porsche.'lhere is no substitute.

a

Other companies deemphasize price and use other marketing mix tools to create nonprice positions. Often, the best strategy is not to charge the lowest price, but rather to differentiate the marketing offer to make it worth a higher price. For example, Viking builds more value into its kitchen appliance products and charges a higher price than many competitors. Customers recognize Viking's higher quality and are willing to pay more to get it. Some marketers even feature high prices as part of their positioning. For example, Grand Marnier offers a $225 bottle of Cuvee du Cent Cinquantenaire that's marketed with the tagline "Hard to find, impossible to pronounce, and prohibitively expensive." Porsche proudly advertises its curvacious Cayman as "Starting at $49,400." And Steinway offers "the finest pianos in the world," with a price to match. Steinway's grand pianos can cost as much as $165,000 (see Real Marketing 10.2). Thus, marketers must consider the total marketing strategy and mix when setting prices. If the product is positioned on nonprice factors, then decisions about quality, promotion, and distribution will strongly affect price. If price is a crucial positioning factor, then price will strongly affect decisions made about the other marketing mix elements. But even when featuring price, marketers must remember that customers rarely buy on price alone. Instead, they seek products that give them the best value in terms of benefits received for the price paid.

Management must decide who within the organization should set prices. Companies handle pricing in a variel$ of ways. In small companies, prices are often set by top management rather than by the marketing or sales departments. In large companies, pricing is typically handled by divisional or product line managers. In industrial markets, salespeople may be allowed to negotiate with customers within certain price ranges. Even so, top management sets the pricing objectives and policies, and it often approves the prices proposed by lowerlevel management or salespeople. In industries in which pricing is a key factor (airlines, aerospace, steel, railroads, oil companies), companies often have pricing departments to set the best prices or to help others in setting them. These departments report to the marketing department or top management. Others who have an influence on pricing include sales managers, production managers, finance managers, and accountants.

Positioning on high price: Porsche proudly advertises its curvacious Cayman as "Starting at $49,400."

As noted earlier, good pricing starts with an understanding of how customers' perceptions of value affect the prices they are willing to pay. Both consumer and industrial buyers balance the price of a product or service against the benefits of owning it. Thus, before setting prices, the marketer must understand the relationship between price and demand for its product. In this section, we take a deeper look at the price-demand relationship and how it varies for different types of markets. We then discuss methods for analyzing the price-demand relationship. The seller's pricing freedom varies with different types of markets. Economists recognize four types of markets, each presenting a different pricing challenge. Under pure competition, the market consists of many buyers and sellers trading in a uniform commodity such as wheat, copper, or financial securities. No single buyer or seller has much effect on the going market price. A seller cannot charge more than the going price,

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

A Steinway piano-any Steinway piano-costs a lot. A Steinway grand piano typically runs anywhere from $40,000 to $165,000. The most popular model sells for around $72,000. But Steinway buyers aren't looking for bargains. In fact, it seems, the higher the prices, the better. High prices confirm that a Steinway is the very best that money can buy-the epitome of handcrafted perfection. As important, the Steinway name is steeped in tradition. It evokes images of classical concert stages, sophisticated dinner parties, and the celebrities and performers who've owned and played Steinway pianos across more than 150 years. Since its founding in 1853, the company's motto has been "The Instrument of the Immortals." When it comes to Steinway, price is nothing, the Steinway experience is everything. To be sure, Steinway & Sons makes pianos of very high quality. With 115 patents to its credit, Steinway & Sons has done more than any other manufacturer to advance the art of piano building. Steinway pioneered the development of a one-piece piano rim produced out of 17 laminations of veneer. It invented a process for bendin,ga single 22-foot-long strip of these laminated sheets inside a massive piano-shaped vise. It's this strong frame that produces Steinway's distinctive clear tones. Steinway & Sons has continued perfecting this design, and today a Steinway piano's 243 tempered, hard-steel strings exert 35 tons of pressure-enough force to implode a three-bedroom house if the strings were strung between attic and cellar. In addition to cutting-edge technology, Steinway & Sons uses only the finest materials to construct each piano. Rock maple, spruce, birch, poplar, and four other species of wood each play a crucial functional role in the physical and acoustical beauty of a Steinway. The expansive wooden soundboard, which turns the string vibrations into sound, is made from select Alaskan Sitka spruce-one grade higher than aircraft grade. Through delicate handcraftsmanship, Steinway transforms these select materials into pianos of incomparable sound quality. From start to finish, it takes 450 skilled workers more than a year to handcraft and assemble a Steinway piano from its 12,000 component parts. Thus, Steinway is anything but mass market. Each year, Steinway's factories in Astoria, New York, and Hamburg, Germany, craft approximately 5,000 pianos. (By comparison, Yamaha produces 100,000 pianos per year.) Steinway's precision quality alone would command top dollar, but Steinway buyers get much more than just a well-made piano. They also get the Steinway mystique. Owning or playing a Steinway puts you in some very good company. Fully 98 percent of piano soloists with the world's major symphony orchestras prefer playing on a Steinway. More than 90 percent of the world's concert pianists, some 1,300 in all, bear the title of Steinway Artist-an elite club of Steinway-owning professional musicians. Steinway customers include composers and professional musicians (from Van Cliburn to Billy Joel), upscale customers (from Lamar Alexander to Paula Zahn), and heads of state (the 25,000th Steinway was sold to Czar Alexander of Russia, and Piano No. 300,000 graces the East Room of the White House, replacing Piano No. 100,000, which is now in the Smithsonian). But Steinways aren't just for world-class pianists and the wealthy. Ninety-nine percent of all Steinway buyers are amateurs who perform only in their dens. "We see a lot of corporate executives and physi-

295

A Steinway piano costs a lot, but buyers aren't looking for bargains. When it comes to a Steinway, price is nothing, the Steinway experience i s everything.

cians buying Steinway grands," says a Steinway marketer. "But it is not unusual at all for a middle-income person to come in and buy a grand." The high prices don't appear to stop even the most cashpoor enthusiasts. Steinway offers a finance plan that lets them pay for their grand piano over a 12-year period. Performers of all kinds sing Steinway's praises. "Steinway is the only piano on which the pianist can do everything he wants. And everything he dreams," declares premier pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy. At the other end of the performing spectrum, contemporary singer-songwriter Randy Newman puts it this way: "I have owned and played a Steinway all my life. It's the best Beethoven piano. The best Chopin piano. And the best Ray Charles piano. I like it, too." Whereas some people want a Porsche in the garage, others prefer a Steinway in the living room-both cost about the same, and both make a statement about their owners. Even in the worst of times, Steinway & Sons has held true to its tradition and image-and to its premium prices. Although the company is no longer owned by the Steinway family, its current owners still prize and protect the brand's exclusivity. When they bought the troubled company in 1984, new management was burdened with 900 pianos of excess inventory. But rather than slashing prices to (confin ues)

296

Part 3

Designing a customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

make a quick profit at the risk of tarnishing the brand, managers restored the company's health by holding the line on prices and renewing its commitment to quality. Through such actions, Steinway has retained its cult-like following and continues to dominate its market. Despite its very high prices--or more likely because of themSteinway enjoys a 95 percent market share in concert halls. So, you won't find any weekend sales on Steinway pianos. Charging significantly higher prices continues to be a cornerstone of the company's "much more for much more" value proposition. And high prices have been good for Steinway & Sons. Although the cornpany accounts for only 3 percent of all U.S. pianos sold each year, it captures 25 percent of the industry's sales dollars and close to 35 percent of the profits. To customers, whatever a Steinway costs, it's a small price to pay for the experience of owning one. Just ask the collector who recently commissioned a nine-foot re-creation of the famous Steinway AlmaTaderna piano built in 1887. The price for his dream Steinway? An eye-popping $675,000!Classical pianist Krystian Zimerman sums up his Steinway experience this way: "My friendship with the Steinway

piano is one of the most important and beautiful things in my life." Who can put a price on such feelings? Sources: See Rosemary Barnes, "The Price of Perfection: Steinway Piano Commands a Premier Price," Knight Ridder TN'bune Business News, February 26, 2005, p. 1; Andy Serwer, "Happy Birthday Steinway,"Fortune, March 17, 2003, p. 94; "Books and Arts: Making the Sound of Music; Piano Manufacturers," The Economist, June 7, 2003, p. 102; Brian T. Majeski, "The Steinway Story," Music Trades, September 2003, p. 18; "The Most Famous Name in Music," Music Trades, September 2003, p. 118-130;Stephan Wilkinson, "HighStrung. Powerful. Very Pricey," Popular Science, March 1, 2003, p. 32; "Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc.," Hoover's Company Capsules, Austin, July 2006, p. 48052; Michael Z. Wise, "Piano Versus Piano," New York Times, May 9, 2004; Lisa Gschwandtner, "Keys to Success," Selling Power, July-August 2006, p. 50; James Barron, Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (New York:

Times Books, 2006);and quotes and information found at www.steinway.com, Decern ber 2006.

because buyers can obtain as much as they need at the going price. Nor would sellers charge less than the market price, because they can sell all they want at this price. If price and profits rise, new sellers can easily enter the market. In a purely competitive market, marketing research, product development, pricing, advertising, and sales promotion play little or no role. Thus, sellers in these markets do not spend much time on marketing strategy. Under m o n o p o l i s t i c c o m p e t i t i o n , the market consists of many buyers and sellers who trade over a range of prices rather than a single market price. A range of prices occurs because sellers can differentiate their offers to buyers. Either the physical product can be varied in quality, features, or style, or the accompanying services can be varied. Buyers see differences in sellers' products and will pay different prices for them. Sellers try to develop differentiated offers for different customer segments and, in addition to price, freely use branding, advertising, and personal selling to set their offers apart. Thus, pickle maker Bick's differentiates its pickles from dozens of other brands through strong branding and advertising, reducing the impact of price. Because there are many competitors in such markets, each firm is less affected by competitors' pricing strategies than in oligopolistic markets. Under o l i g o p o l i s t i c c o m p e t i t i o n , the market consists of a few sellers who are highly sensitive to each other's pricing and marketing strategies. The product can be uniform

E3 Monopolistic competition: Pickle marketer Bick's sets its pickles apart from dozens of other brands using both price and nonprice factors.

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

299

Demand curves

4 Ql Quantity demanded per period

Quantity demanded per period

A. Inelastic demand

B. Elastic demand

Q;

Q'l

(steel, aluminum) or nonuniform (cars, computers]. There are few'sellers because it is difficult for new sellers to enter the market. Each seller is alert to competitors' strategies and moves. If a steel company slashes its price by 10 percent, buyers will quickly switch to this supplier. The other steelmakers must respond by lowering their prices or increasing their services. In a pure monopoly, the market consists of one seller. The seller may be a government monopoly (the U.S. Postal Service), a private regulated monopoly (a power company), or a private nonregulated monopoly (DuPont when it introduced nylon). Pricing is handled differently in each case. In a regulated monopoly, the government permits the company to set rates that will yield a "fair return." Nonregulated monopolies are kee to price at what the market will bear. However, they do not always charge the full price for a number of reasons: a desire not to attract competition, a desire to penetrate the market faster with a low price, or a fear of government regulation. Each price the company might charge will lead to a different level of demand. The relationship between the price charged and the resultDemand curve ing demand level is shown in the demand curve in Figure 10.6. The demand curve shows the A curve that shows the number of units the market will buy in a given time period at different prices that might be number of units the market charged. In the normal case, demand and price are inversely related; that is, the higher' the will buy in a given time price, the lower the demand. Thus, the company would sell less if it raised its price from PI period, at different prices that to P2. In short, consumers with limited budgets probably will buy less of something if its price might be charged. is too high. In the case of prestige goods, the demand curve sometimes slopes upward. Consumers think that higher prices mean more quality. For example, Gibson Guitar Corporation once toyed with the idea of lowering its prices to compete more effectively with Japanese rivals such as Yamaha and Ibanez. TO-its surprise, Gibson found that its instruments didn't sell as well at lower prices. "We had an inverse [pricedemand relationship]," noted Gibson's chief executive. "The more we charged, the more product we sold." At a time when other guitar manufacturers have chosen to build their instruments more quickly, cheaply, and in greater numbers, Gibson still promises guitars that "are made one-at-a-time, by hand. No shortcuts. No substitutions." It turns out that low prices simply aren't consistent with "Gibson's century-old tradition of creating investment-quality instruments that represent the highest standards of imaginative design and masterful craftsmanship."14 Still, if the company charges too high a price, the level of demand will be lower. Most companies try to measure their demand curves by estimating demand at differH The demand curve sometimes slopes upward: Gibson was surprised to learn that ent prices. The type of market makes a differits high-quality instruments didn't selt as well a t lower prices. ence. In a monopoly, the demand curve shows

298

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

the total market demand resulting fiom different prices. If the company faces competition, its demand at different prices will depend on whether competitors' prices stay constant or change with the company's own prices. Price elasticity A measure of the sensitivity of demand lo changes in price.

Marketers also need to know price elasticity-how responsive n price. Consider the two demand curves in Figure 10.4. In Figure 10.4A, a price increase fiom PI to P2 leads to a relatively small drop in demand &om Q, to Q,. In Figure 10.4B, however, the same price increase leads to a large drop in demand from Q', to Q',. If demand hardly changes with a small change in price, we say the demand is inelastic. If demand changes greatly, we say the demand is elastic. The price elasticity of demand is given by the following formula: Price Elasticity of Demand =

% Change in Quantity Demanded % Change in Price

Suppose demand falls by 10 percent when a seller raises its price by 2 percent. Price elasticity of demand is therefore -5 (the minus sign confirms the inverse relation between price and demand) and demand is elastic. If demand falls by 2 percent with a 2 percent increase in price, then elasticity is -1. In this case, the seller's total revenue stays the same: The seller sells fewer items but at a higher price that preserves the same total revenue. If demand falls by 1percent when price is increased by 2 percent, then elasticity is -112 and demand is inelastic. The less elastic the demand, the more it pays for the seller to raise the price. What determines the price elasticity of demand? Buyers are less price sensitive when the product they are buying is unique or when it is high in quality, prestige, or exclusiveness. They are also less price sensitive when substitute products are hard to find or when they cannot easily compare the quality of substitutes. Finally, buyers are less price sensitive when the total expenditure for a product is low relative to their income or when the cost is shared by another party.15 If demand is elastic rather than inelastic, sellers will consider lowering their prices. A lower price will produce more total revenue. This practice makes sense as long as the extra costs of producing and selling more do not exceed the extra revenue. At the same time, most firms want to avoid pricing that turns their products into commodities. In recent years, forces such as deregulation and the instant price comparisons afforded by the Internet and other technologies have increased consumer price sensitivity, turning products ranging from telephones and computers to new automobiles into commodities in consumers' eyes. Marketers need to work harder than- ever to differentiate their offerings when a dozen competitors are selling virtually the same product at a comparable or lower price. More than ever, companies need to understand the price sensitivity of their customers and prospects and the trade-offs people are willing to make between price and product characteristics. In the words of marketing consultant Kevin Clancy, those who target only the price sensitive are "leaving money on the table." Even in the energy marketplace, where you would think that a kilowatt is a kilowatt is a kilowatt, some energy companies are beginning to wake up to this fact. They are differentiating their power, branding it, and marketing it on considerations other than price. For example, Green Mountain Energy Company targets consumers who are not only concerned with the environment but are also willing to support those attitudes with their choice of electricity providers. Green Mountain offers electricity made from cleaner, renewable sources such as water, wind, solar, and bioBy positioning itself as "the nation's leading brand of cleaner electricity products," mass. By positioning itself as "the nation's Green Mountain differentiates itself from comparably priced utilities and competes leading brand of cleaner electricity products," successfully against "cheaper" brands that focus only on more price-sensitive consumers. Green Mountain differentiates itself from com-

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

299

parably priced utilities and competes successfully against "cheaper" brands that focus only on more price-sensitive consumers. l6

In setting its prices, the company must also consider competitors' costs, prices, and market offerings. Consumers will base their judgments of a product's value on the prices that competitors charge for similar products. A consumer who is thinking about buying a Canon digital camera will evaluate Canon's customer value and price against the value and prices of comparable products made by Kodak, Nikon, Sony, and others. In addition, the company's pricing strategy may affect the nature of the competition it faces. If Canon follows a high-price, high-margin strategy, it may attract competition. A lowprice, low-margin strategy, however, may stop competitors or drive them out of the market. Canon needs to benchmark its costs and value against competitors' costs and value. It can then use these benchmarks as a starting point for its own pricing. In assessing competitors' pricing strategies, the company should ask several questions. First, how does the company's market offering compare with competitors' offerings in terms of customer value? If consumers perceive that the company's product or service provides greater value, the company can charge a higher price. If consumers perceive less value relative to competing products, the company must either charge a lower price or change customer perceptions to justify a higher price. Next, how strong are current competitors and what are their current pricing strategies? If the company faces a host of smaller competitors charging high prices relative to the value they deliver, it might charge lower prices to drive weaker competitors out of the market. If the market is dominated by larger, low-price competitors, the company may decide to target unserved market niches with value-added products at higher prices. For example, your local independent bookstore isn't likely to win a price war against Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. It would be wiser to add special customer services and personal touches that justify higher prices and margins. Finally, the company should ask, How does the competitive landscape influence customer price sensitivity?17For example, customers will be more price sensitive if they see few differences between competing products. They will buy whichever product costs the least. The more information customers have about competing products and prices before buying, the more price sensitive they will be. Easy product comparisons help customers to assess the value of different options and to decide what prices they are willing to pay. Finally, customers will be more price sensitive if they can switch easily from one product alternative to another. What principle should guide decisions about what price to charge relative to those of competitors? The answer is simple in concept but often difficult in practice: No matter what price you charge-high, low, or in between-be certain to give customers superior value for that price.

When setting prices, the company also must consider a number of other factors in its external environment. Economic conditions can have a strong impact on the firm's pricing strategies. Economic factors such as boom or recession, inflation, and interest rates affect pricing decisions because they affect both consumer perceptions of the product's price and value and the costs of producing a product. The company must also consider what impact its prices will have on other parties in its environment. How will resellers react to various prices? The company should set prices that give resellers a fair profit, encourage their support, and help them to sell the product effectively. The government is another important external influence on pricing decisions. Finally, social concerns may have to be taken into account. In setting prices, a company's short-term sales, market share, and profit goals may have to be tempered by broader societal considerations. We will examine public policy issues in pricing in the next chapter. We've now seen that pricing decisions are subject to an incredibly complex set of customer, company, competitive, and environmental forces. In the next chapter, we'll examine specific pricing strategies available to marketers.

3 00

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

evie-wing the Costs are an important consideration in setting prices. However, cost-based pricing is product driven rather than customer driven. The company designs what it considers to be a good product and sets a price that covers costs plus a target profit. If the price turns out to be too high, the company must settle for lower markups or lower sales, both resulting in disappointing profits. The company must watch its costs carefully. If it costs the company more than it costs competitors to produce and sell its product, the company must charge a higher price or make less profit, putting it at a competitive disadvantage. Total costs are the sum of the fixed and variable costs for any given level of production. Management wants to charge a price that will at least cover the total costs at a given level of production. To price wisely, management also needs to know how its costs vary with different levels of production and accumulated production experience. Cost-based pricing approaches include cost-plus pricing and breakeven pricing (or target profit pricing).

Companies today face a fierce and fast-changing pricing environment. Firms successful at creating customer value with the other marketing mix activities must still capture some of this value in the prices they earn. This chapter looks at internal and external considerations that affect pricing decisions and examines general pricing approaches. Answer the question "What is price?" and discuss the importance of pricing in today's fast-changing environment. Price can be defined narrowly as the amount of money charged for a product or service. Or it can be defined more broadly as the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having and using the product or service. The pricing challenge is to find the price that will let the company make a fair profit by getting paid for the customer value it creates. Despite the increased role of nonprice factors in the modern marketing process, price remains an important element in the marketing mix. It is the only marketing mix element that produces revenue; all other elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible elements of the marketing mix. Unlike product features and channel commitments, price can be raised or lowered quickly. Even so, many companies are not good at handling pricing-pricing decisions and price competition are major problems for many marketing executives. Pricing problems often arise because managers are too quick to reduce prices, prices are too cost oriented rather than customervalue oriented, or prices are not consistent with the rest of the marketing mix. Discuss the importance of understanding customer value perceptions when setting prices. Good pricing begins with a complete understandingof the value that a product or service creates for customers and setting a price that captures the value. Customer perceptions of the product's value set the ceiling for prices. If customers perceive that the price is greater than the product's value, they will not buy the product. Value-based pricing uses buyers' perceptions of value, not the seller's cost, as the key to pricing. Companies can pursue either of two types of value-based pricing. Good-value pricinginvolves offering just the right combination of quality and good service at a fair price. Everyday low pricing (EDLP) is an example of this strategy. Value-addedpricing involves attaching valueadded features and services to differentiate the company's offers and support charging higher prices. Discuss the importance of company and product costs in setting prices. The price the company charges will fall somewhere between one that is too high to produce any demand and one that is too low to produce a profit. Whereas customer perceptions of value set the ceiling for prices, company and product costs set the floor. If the company prices the product below its costs, its profits will suffer. Cost-based pricing involves setting prices based on the costs for producing, distributing, and selling the product plus a fair rate of return for effort and risk.

Break-even pricing (target profit pricing) 291 Cost-based pricing 288 Cost-plus pricing 290

Demand curve 297 Experience curve (learning curve) 290 Fixed costs (overhead) 288

4. Identify and define the other important external and internal factors affecting a firm's pricing decisions. Other internal factors that influence pricing decisions include the company's overall marketing strategy, objectives, mix, and organization for pricing. Price is only one element of the company's broader marketing strategy. If the company has selected its target market and positioning carefully, then its marketing mix strategy, including price, will be fairly straightfoward. Some companies position their products on price and then tailor other marketing mix decisions to the prices they want to charge. Other companies deemphasize price and use other marketing mix tools to create nonprice positions. Common pricing objectives might include survival, current profit maximization, market share leadership, or customer retention and relationship building. Price decisions must be coordinated with product design, distribution, and promotion decisions to form a consistent and effective marketing program. Finally, in order to coordinate pricing gdals and decisions, management must decide who within the organization is responsible for setting price. Other external pricing considerations include the nature of the market and demand, competitors' strategies and prices, and environmental factors such as the economy, reseller needs, and government actions. The seller's pricing freedom varies with different types of markets. Ultimately, the customer decides whether the company has set the right price. The customer weighs the price against the perceived values of using the product-if the price exceeds the sum of the values, consumers will not buy. So the company must understand concepts such as demand curves (the price-demand relationship) and price elasticity (consumer sensitivity to prices). Consumers also compare a product's price to the prices of competitors' products. A company therefore must learn the customer value and prices of competitors' offers.

-

Good-value pricing 287 Price 284 Price elasticity 298 Target costing 293

Total costs 289 Value-added pricing 287 Value-based pricing 285 Variable costs 288

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

301

Discussi~~g the Concepts The chapter points out that many companies do not handle pricing well. Beyond focusing too much on cost, what are some of the other difficulties that marketers have in setting prices? What are the differences between cost-based and value-based pricing? Four recent MBA graduates are starting their own financial services firm. They plan to promote a "good value" pricing strategy to their customers. Would you recommend this pricing strategy?

4. How would the risks of experience curve pricing apply to a new manufacturer of ink-jet printers?

5. Pricing is based on customer perceptions of value and costs in addition to other internal factors. Discuss these other internal factors and how they might affect the pricing of a new Sony MP3 player. 6. Explain why elasticity of demand is such an important concept to

marketers who sell a "commodity" product.

1. Visit U.S. News & World Report at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/ edu/college/rankings/bvrankindex-brief.php for a list of schools that offer the best value. How is value defined here? Is this a valid definition of value? 2. Given the following information, calculate the number of meals a restaurant would need to sell to break even: @ Average meal price = $10.35 Meals sold = 8,560 8 Food = $27,653 @ Food labor = $18,386 Management = $4,855

Supplies = $3,133 Maintenance = $2,213 IE Marketing = $1,650 Insurance/legal = $1,904 Waste management = $988 EI Utilities = $3,159 rn Rent = $3,960 3. What does the following positioning statement suggest about the firm's marketing objectives, marketing-mix strategy, and costs? "No one beats our prices. We crush competition."

lnternet users have become used to receiving "for free" information. With some online revenues razor thin, many lnternet operations are interested in moving to more of a "for fee" model. But customers.-resistpaying and marketers are looking for creative ways to blend the models. Consider Google, one of the most visited sites on the lnternet and the top search engine. To produce user fees, Google has supplemented its free search om). with a service called Google Answers ( ~ ~ ~ . g ~ ~ g l e . a n S w e r S . cThis service, introduced in 2006, offers more than 500 carefully screened researchers to answer your questions. The user pays a nonrefundable listing fee of $.50 per question and sets a price that reflects how much he or she would pay for a well-researched answer. The user is charged this price only if the question is answered satisfactorily. Google pays three-

quarters of the revenue to the researcher who answers the question and keeps the other 25 percent. Fees start at $2.50 and average around the $75 point. A recent review of questions shows a $5 fee to answer a question on whether an artist is working on a new album and a fee of $150 to find the portion of the music industry's revenues derived from independent artists.

Independent retailers have difficulty competing against megastores such as Wal-Mart, Toys "R" Us, and Best Buy. The larger retailers can usually offer lower prices due to operational efficiencies. They make up for their lower margins with much higher sales volumes. But what happens when one of these megaretailers prices itfms below its costs to compete with independent retailers? Best Buy, long accused by independent music stores of using music as a loss leader, may have the line into predatory pricing when it priced independent label CDs (indies) below its own wholesale cost. In 2006, Best Buy ran a promotion including a week-long sale on 20 indie titles at $7.99, about $2 below wholesale prices. Marketwide, indie CD sales soared during the week of the sale, up 65 percent from the previous week. The problem, according to the independent retailers, was that little of that

surge came from independent stores. Music label executives claimed that they were unaware that Best Buy would be selling their CDs below the $9.99 wholesale price and were concerned about the future of the independent retailers.

1

1s Google Answers using cost-based or va\ue-ba& pricing?Explain.

2. What are Google's objectives with this product? 3. How will increased competition affect Google's marketing strategy for this product?

1. H~~ does the pricing of music C D fit ~ with Best ~~~~sbroader marketing-mix strategy? 2. Comment on the elasticity of demand for indie music. Do You think Best Buy broke even on the music?

3. Was Best Buy's promotion legal?Was it ethical? %plain. See: Todd Martens, "Best Buy Promo Raises Ire," illb board, February 18, 2006, p. 10.

302

,

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Trying to replicate the success enjoyed by competitors such as Southwest and Jet Blue, Delta launched a new experiment: a separately branded airline called Song. The pricing strategy behind this low-cost airline involved more than simple discounting. Song implemented an upfront pricing structure that took the mystery out of buying airline tickets. In addition, the airline offered amenities such as healthy gourmet organic food, vibrant colors, leather seats, and in-flight satellite television. Song even enlisted designer Kate Spade to craft fashionable new uniforms for its flight attendants. In the end, however, Delta could not sustain both Song and parent Delta airlines. When Delta declared bankruptcy in late 2005, it announced that it would merge Song back into the Delta fleet, thereby reducing the costs of marketing two separate airlines. It would use Song airplanes for its own flights, but it would also incorporate Song's successes back into Delta's operations. According to Delta, "Song's ideas and innovations will continue to play a vital role in the refreshment and

reinvigoration of the Delta product and experience." Delta plans to incorporate successful Song innovations, including zone boarding, faster aircraft turn times, all-leather seats, designer uniforms, improved food options, simplified fare structure, and upgraded online presence. After viewing the video featuring Song Airlines, answer the following questions about pricing considerations and strategies.

BAnLE STATIONS!

served a total of 58 cities and 59 airports in 30 states and was offering only 14 flights a day from Philly out of only two gates. And until its entry into Philadelphia, Southwest had a history of entering smaller, less-expensive, more out-of-theway airports where it didn't pose a direct threat to the major airlines like US Air. Did Southwest really have a chance? Southwest was used to that question. In 1971, when Kelleher and a partner concocted a business plan on a cocktail napkin, most people didn't give Southwest much of a chance. Its strategy completely countered the industry's conventional wisdom. Southwest's planes flew from "point to point" rather than using the "hub-and-spoke" pattern that is the backbone of the major airlines. This allowed more flexibility to move planes around based on demand. Southwest served no meals, only snacks. It did not charge paissengers a fee to change same-fare tickets. It had no assigned seats. It had no electronic entertainment, relying on comic flight attendants to entertain passengers. The airline did not offer a retirement plan; rather, it offered its employees a profit-sharing plan. Because of all this, Southwest had much lower costs than its competitors and was able to crush the competition with low fares. For 32 years, Southwest achieved unbelievable success by sticking to this basic no-frills, low-price strategy. Since it began operations in 1972, it was the only airline to post a profit every year. In 2003, just prior to taking the pl&ige in Philly, the company earned $442 million-more than all the other U.S. airlines combined. In the three prior years, Southwest had earned $1.2 billion, while its competitors lost a combined $22 billion. In May 2003, for the first time, Southwest boarded more domestic customers than any other airline. From 1972 through 2002, Southwest had the

In March 2004, US Airways CEO David Siegel addressed his employees via a Webcast. "They're coming for one reason: They're coming to kill us. They beat us on the West Coast, they beat us in Baltimore, but if they beat us in Philadelphia, they are going to kill us." Siegel exhorted his employees on, emphasizing that US Airways had to repel Southwest Airlines when the no-frills carrier began operations at the Philadelphia International Airport in May-or die. On Sunday, May 9, 2004, at 5:05 A.M. (yes, A.M.),leisure passengers and some thrift-minded business people lined up to secure seats on Southwest's 7 A.M. flight from Philadelphia to Chicago-its inaugural flight from the new market. Other passengers scurried to get in line for a flight to Orlando. And why not? One family of six indicated it bought tickets for $49 each way, or $98 round trip. An equivalent round-trip ticket on US Air would have cost $200. Southwest employees, dressed in golf shirts and khaki pants or shorts, had decorated the ticket counters with lavender, red, and gold balloons and hustled to assist the throng of passengers. As the crowd blew noisemakers and hurled confetti, Herb Kelleher, Southwest's quirky CEO, shouted, "I hereby declare Philadelphia fiee from the tyranny of high fares!" At 6:59 a.m., Southwest Flight 741 departed for Chicago.

WAR on! Was Southwest's entry into the Philadelphia market worth all this fuss? After all, US Air was firmly entrenched in Philadelphia, the nation's eighth-largest market, offering more than 375 flights per day and controlling two-thirds of the airport's 120 gates. Further, in 2004, little Southwest

1. How did Song lower fixed costs? How did the company lower variable costs? 2. Which of the external factors discussed in the text do you believe had the largest impact on Song's pricing decisions?

3. What pricing approach did Delta use when setting prices for passenger tickets on Song flights? 4. Can Delta successfully employ the lessons learned from Song?

nation's best-performing stock-growing at a compound annual rate of 26 percent over the period. Moreover, while competing airlines laid off thousands of workers following the September 11tragedy, Southwest didn't lay off a single employee. In 2004, its cost per average seat mile (CASMthe cost of flying one seat one mile) was 8.09 cents, as compared with between 9.42 to 11.18 for the big carriers. In the early 2000s, the major (or legacy) airlines, such as US Air, Delta, United, American, and Continental, faced three major problems. First, "little" Southwest was no longer little. Second, other airlines, such as JetBlue, AirTran, ATA, and Virgin Atlantic, had adopted Southwest-like strategies. In fact, JetBlue and America West had CASMs of 5.90 and 7.72 cents, respectively. In 1990, discount airlines flew on just 159 of the nation's top 1,000 routes. By 2004, that number had risen to 754. As a result, the majors, who had always believed they could earn a 30 percent price premium, were finding it hard to get a 10 percent premium, if that. Third, and most importantly, the major airlines had high cost structures that were difficult to change. They had more long-service employees who earned higher pay and received expensive pension and health benefits. Many had unions, which worked hard to protect employee pay and benefits. US Air had experienced Southwest's attacks before. In the late 1980s, Southwest entered the California market, where US Air had a 58 percent market share on its routes. By the mid-'90s, Southwest had forced US Air to abandon those routes. On the Oakland to Burbank route, average one-way fares fell from $104 to just $42 and traffic tripled. In the early '90s, Southwest entered Baltimore Washington International Airport, where US Air had a significant hub and a 55 percent market share. By 2004, US Air had only 4.9 percent of BWI traffic, with Southwest ranking number one at 47 percent. Knowing it was in for a fight in Philly, US Air reluctantly started to make changes. In preparation for Southwest's arrival, it began to reshape its image as a high-fare, uncooperative carrier. It spread out its scheduling to reduce congestion and the resulting delays and started using two seldomused runways to reduce bottlenecks. The company also lowered fares to match Southwest's and dropped its requirement for a Saturday-night stayover on discounted flights. US Air also began some new promotion tactics. It launched local TV spots on popular shows such as "Friends," "American Idol," and "Frasier" to promote free massages, movie tickets, pizza, and flowers. On the other side, Southwest knew that Philadelphia posed a big challenge. Philadelphia International was one of the biggest airports it had ever attempted to enter. And with US Air's strong presence, it was also one of the most heavily guarded. Finally, the airport was known for its delays, congestion, bureaucracy, and baggage snafus, making Southwest's strategy of 20-minute turnarounds very difficult. Therefore, Southwest unveiled a new promotion plan for Philly. Ditching its tried-and-true cookie-cutter approach,

the airline held focus groups with local travelers to get their ideas on how it should promote its service-a first for Southwest. As a result, the airline developed a more intense ad campaign and assigned 50 percent more employees to the airport than it typically had for other launches. Southwest also recruited volunteers to stand on local street corners handing out free inflatable airline hats, luggage tags, and antenna toppers. The airline used billboards, TV, and radio to trumpet the accessibility of its low fares as well as its generous frequent-flier program. Two short years after Southwest began service to Philadelphia, the market took on a dramatically different look. Southwest had boosted daily nonstop flights from 14 to 53. It had added service to 11new cities and quadrupled its number of gates from two to eight, with its eye on four more. The number of Southwest employees in Philly approached 200, a huge increase over its post-launch total of fewer than 30. But the external impact of Southwest's first two years in Philadelphia was a classic example of what has come to be known as "the Southwest effect9'-a phenomenon in which all carriers' fares drop and more people fly. In Philadelphia, the intense competition brought on by Southwest's arrival caused airfares on some routes to drop by as much as 70 percent. In 2005, airline passenger traffic for Philadelphia International was up 15 percent over 2004. The airport attributed much of that increase to Southwest. In all, by the end of 2005, Southwest had captured 10 percent of total passenger traffic. In turn, US Airways' share fell about five percentage points. Just as US Air was absorbing Southwest's blows in Philadelphia, the underdog airline struck again. In May of 2005, Southwest started service to Pittsburgh, another major US Air hub. Shortly thereafter, Southwest announced that it would also soon enter Charlotte, NC, US Air's last stronghold. Still, although it appears that Southwest is on cloud nine, many factors are forcing the nation's most profitable air carrier to change flight plans. First, the best-known discount airline has more competition than ever before. Upstarts such as Frontier, AirTran, and JetBlue are doing very well with Southwest's model. And they are trumping Southwest's low fares by adding amenities such as free TV and XM satellite radio at each seat. Even the legacy carriers are now in better positions to take on Southwest's lower fares. A11 of the major airlines have ruthlessly slashed costs, mostly in the areas of wages and pensions. Some, like US Air, have used bankruptcy to force steep union concessions. In fact, Southwest now has some of the highest paid employees in the industry. And although Southwest still enjoys a big advantage in total costs over the major carriers, these big airlines have narrowed their cost disadvantage from 42 percent to 31 percent. With the wind now at their backs, these competitors could soon decrease the cost gap to as little as 20 percent. (case continues)

Chapter 10 Pricing Products: Understanding and Capturing Customer Value

Being the low-cost leader has some disadvantages. Because Southwest already has such a lean cost structure, it has much less room for improvement. For example, travel agent commissions have been at zero for some time (Southwest doesn't work through agents). Sixty-five percent of Southwest customers already buy their tickets online, minimizing its expense for call centers. And Southwest is losing another of its traditional cost advantages. For years, though some smartly negotiated fuel-hedging contracts, Southwest has enjoyed fuel prices far below those paid by the rest of the industry. But the most lucrative of those contracts are expiring. At a time when fuel prices are surging for the entire industry, this means that Southwest's fuel expenses are rising faster than those of its competitors. In the first quarter of 2006, Southwest's paid 63 percent more for fuel that it did for the year-earlier period. As these factors have quickly turned the tables on Southwest, some analysts are questioning the company's current strategic direction. "Slowly, Southwest is becoming what its competitors used to be," says industry consultant Steven Casley. Serving congested hub airports, linking with rivals through code sharing, and hunting the big boys on their own turf are all things that Southwest would previously have never. considered. But Gary Kelly, Southwest's new CEO, defends the company's actions. "Hey, I can admit it, our competitors are getting better," says Kelly. "Sure, we have an enormous cost advantage. Sure, we're the most efficient. The problem is, I just don't see how that can be indefinitely sustained without some sacrifice." Kelly has hinted that such sacrifices could include modest fare increases and more conservative labor contracts. In direct contrast to its well-known "firstcome" boarding policy, Southwest is even experimenting with a n assigned-seating system. And when asked if he was worried about Southwest losing its competitive advantage, Mr. Kelly responded confidently: .

We know people shop first for fares, and we've got the fares. [But] ultimately, our industry is a customerservice business, and we have the best people to provide that special customer service . . . that's our core advantage. Since the U.S. Department of Transportation began collecting and publishing operating statistics, we've excelled at on-time performance,

304

Part 3

baggage handling, fewest complaints, and fewest canceled flights. Besides, we're still the low-cost producer and the low-fare leader in the US. We have no intention of conceding that position. By almost any measure, Southwest is still the healthiest airline in the business. However, that might be like saying it's the least sick patient in the hospital. As the industry as a whole has suffered in the post-September 11th world, Southwest's 2005 earnings of $313 million were half of what the company made in 2000. The airline's stock prices hover at around $15 a share, more than 30 percent below 2001 levels. And as the other patients get better, Southwest may have to find some new medicine.

Questions for Discussion 1. How do Southwest's marketing objectives and its mar-

keting mix strategy affect its pricing decisions? 2. Discuss factors that have affected the nature of costs i n

the airline industry since the year 2000. How have these factors affected pricing decisions? 3. How do the nature of the airline market and the demand for airline service affect Southwest's decisions? 4. What general pricing approaches have airlines pursued? 5. Do you think that Southwest will be able to continue to maintain a competitive advantage based on price? What will happen if others carriers match the low-price leader? Sources: Chris Walsh, " APhiladelphia Success Story; Southwest's Quick Growth in City Shows Its Potential in Denver," RockyMountain News, December 30, 2005, p. 1B; Susan Warren, "Keeping Ahead of the Pack," Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2005, p. B1; Barney Gimbel, "Southwest's New Flight Plan," Fortune, May 16, 2005, accessed at www.fortune.com; "Let the Battle Begin," Air Transporf World, May 2004, p. 9; Micheline Maynard, "Southwest Comes Calling, and a Race Begins," New York Times, May 10, 2004; Melanie Trottman, "Destination: Philadelphia," Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2004, p. B1; Andy Sewer and Kate Bonamici, "Southwest Airlines: The Hottest Thing in the Sky," Fortune, March 8, 2004, p. 86.

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Select Your 3aurney

he major airlines are facing very difficult pricing strategy decisions in these tough air-travel times. Pricing strategies vary widely. Some airlines offer no-frills flights and charge rock-bottom prices (Southwest, JetBlue, Frontier). Others offer luxury and charge higher prices to match (Virgin, Singapore Airlines). But most airlines haven't yet figured it out, leaving air-travel passengers generally grumpy when it comes to the topic of airline ticket prices. For example, when Northwest Airlines recently charged full fares but still cut basic perks (such as free magazines, pillows, and pretzels) and tacked on irksome new charges for things competitors provide for free (such as in-flight snacks and aisle seats), it dropped to dead last in the industry's customer satisfaction ratings. But now, one airline appears to have found a radical new pricing solution, one that customers are sure to love: Make flying free! That's right, Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ireland's Ryanair, Europe's most profitable airline, wants to make air travel free. Not free as in tree from regulation, but free as in zero cost. By the end of the decade, he promises, "more than half of our passengers will fly free." The remarkable thing is, few analysts think his prediction is far-fetched: Ryanair already offers free fares to a quarter of its customers. Even without free flights, Ryanair has become one of Europe's most popular carriers. Last year it flew 35 million passengers to more than 100 European destinations, while its customers paid an average fare of just $53. The airline enjoyed revenues of $1.7 billion, up 20 percent over the previous year, at a time when most competitors were stuck in a holding pattern. Even more impressive, Ryanair reaped an industry-leading 22 percent net profit margin. (By comparison, profitable Southwest Airlines' net margin was 7.2 percent.) "Ryanair has the strongest financials in the European airline industry," says an airlines analyst. The secret? Ryanair's austere cost structure makes even cost-conscious Southwest look like a reckless spender. in addition, the Irish airline puts a price on virtually everything except tickets, from baggage check-in to seat-back advertising space. As a result, last year Ryanair collected $265 million-15.6 percent of overall revenues-from sources other than ticket sales. "We weren't the first to figure this out," OILeary says. "But we do it better than everybody else." The similarities to the Southwest model are hardly coincidental. In 1991, when Ryanair was just another struggling European regional carrier, CEO O'Leaiy went to

Dallas to meet Southwest executives and look @ ~ e t u m OOne way for lessons he could take back to Ireland. The Select Your Journey visit prompted a wholesale reconsideration of how the airline did business. Following Depart Date , Southwest's lead, Ryanair embraced a single ! Aug 2006 v ] Return Date type of aircraft-the venerable Boeing 737. Likewise, it focused on smaller, secondary airports and began to offer open (unassigned) passenger seating. But Ryanair has since taken the lowcost pricing model even further. An accountant who spent several years at bigfour global accounting firm KPMG, O'Leary GET A FREE FLIGHT - CLICK HERE! Terms It Conditions is maniacal about keeping costs down. "We want to be known as the Wal-Mart of flying," he says. Like the retail giant, each time Ryanair comes up with a new way to ,$?dFLY FROM FLY FRON LONDON {STANSTED) ,.& EMTPIIDLANDS , cut costs by a few million dollars-for fares are exclusive of taxes fees & fans are ~xciusiueof taxes fees & example, by removing seat-back pockets to charges which do not exceed f 12.50 charges which do not exceed f15.80 from $ from reduce weight and cleaning expenseFree Free Dubtin Toulon St. Tropez O'Leary passes the savings along to customers in the form of lower fares. It also means charging passengers for practically every amenity they might consume. There are no free peanuts or beverages on Ryanair flights; 27 million passengers bought in-flight refreshments on the airline last year, generating sales of $61 million, or an average of $2.25 per person. Last March, Ryanair eliminated its free checked-bag allowance and began charging $3.50 per piece-a "revenue-neutral" fee that was offset by cutting ticket prices by an average of $3.50. Ryanair expects the move to save $36 million a year by reducing fuel and handling costs. The airline is just as aggressive in its efforts to develop new sources of revenue. Today, 98 percent of Ryanair's passengers book their flights online, and the company's Web site sees roughly 15 million unique visitors a month-making it Europe's most popular travel site. The airline uses that traffic as a marketing tool for related services; each time a passenger books a rental car or a hotel room, Ryanair earns a percentage of the sale. Linking customers to such services brought in more than $100 million last year. O'Leary is also starting to turn his planes into media and entertainment venues. He's offered advertisers the opportunity to repaint the exteriors of Ryanair's planes, effectively turning them into giant billboards. (Hertz, Jaguar, and Vodafone have purchased space on the fuselages of Ryanair's 737s.) For passengers seeking distraction,

1;T!b

1

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Part 3

3 08 - - - - - - -

-

'

i

,

-

!.

-

.-

-

. . . .--..--_--. .,,- -.-. !, :

I '

Ryanair intends to offer in-flight gambling in 2007, with the airline earning a tiny cut off of each wager. O'Leary thinks gambling could double Ryanair's profits over the next decade, but he's not stopping there. He also envisions a day when the airline can charge passengers for the ability to use their cell phones at 35,000 feet. And he's expressed interest in partnering with operators of airport parking lots and concession stands to capture a bigger slice of the cash that passengers spend on the ground getting to and from his planes. Add it all up-relentless cost cutting on the operations side, combined with innovative efforts to extract more revenue from each traveler-and O'Learyls plan to give away half of Ryanair's seats by 2010 starts to look quite sane. Sure, taking to the skies on Ryanair may feel more like riding in a subway car than an airplane, but you can't beat the prices. And financially-strapped U.S. carriers should take note: Flying people from here to there for free could truly be liberating. For Ryanair, not even the sky's the 1imit.l

As the Ryanair example illustrates, pricing decisions are subject to a complex and fascinating array of company, environmental, and competitive forces. To make things even more complex, a company sets not a single price but rather a pricing structure that covers different items in its line. This pricing structure changes over time as products move through their life cycles. The company adjusts product prices to reflect changes in costs and demand and to account for variations in buyers and situations. As the competitive environment changes, the company considers when to initiate price changes and when to respond to them. This chapter examines the major dynamic pricing strategies available to marketers. In turn, we look at new-product pricing strategies for products in the introductory stage of the product life cycle, product mix pricing strategies for related products in the product mix, price-adjustment strategies that account for customer differences and changing situations, and strategies for initiating and responding to price changesq2

Pricing strategies usually change as the product passes through its life cycle. The introductory stage is especially challenging. Companies bringing out a new product face the challenge of setting prices for the first time. They can choose between two broad strategies: market-skimming pricing and m arket-penetration pricing.

Market-Skimming Pricing Market-skimming pricing Setting a high price for a new product to skim maximum revenues layer by layer from the segments willing to pay the high price; the company makes fewer but more profitable sales.

Many companies that invent new products set high initial prices to "skim" revenues layer by layer from the market. Sony frequently uses this strategy, called market-skimming pricing. When Sony introduced the world's first high-definition television (HDTV) to the Japanese market in 1990, the high-tech sets cost $43,000. These televisions were purchased only by customers who could afford to pay a high price for the new technology. Sony rapidly reduced the price over the next several years to attract new buyers. By 1993 a 28inch HDTV cost a Japanese buyer just over $6,000. In 2001, a Japanese consumer could buy a 40-inch HDTV for about $2,000, a price that many more customers could afford. An entry level HDTV set now sells for less than $500 in the United States, and prices continue to fall. In this way, Sony skimmed the maximum amount of revenue from the various segments of the market3 Market skimming makes sense only under certain conditions. First, the product's quality and image must support its higher price, and enough buyers must want the product at that price. Second, the costs of producing a smaller volume cannot be so high that they cancel the advantage of charging more. Finally, competitors should not be able to enter the market easily and undercut the high price.

Chapter 11

Pricing Products: Pricing Strategies

309

Market-Penetration Pricing

El Market-skimming pricing: Sony priced it's early HDTVs high, then reduced

Rather than setting a high initial price to skim off small but profitable market segments, some companies use market-penetration pricing. They set a low initial price in order to penetrate the market quickly and deeply-to attract a large number of buyers quickly and win a large market share. The high sales volume results in falling costs, allowing the company to cut its price even further. For example, Wal-Mart and other discount retailers use penetration pricing. And Dell used penetration pricing to enter the personal computer market, selling high-quality computer products through lower-cost direct channels. Its sales soared when IBM, Apple, and other competitors selling through retail stores could not match its prices. Several conditions must be met for this lowprice strategy to work. First, the market must be highly price sensitive so that a low price produces more market growth. Second, production and distribution costs must fall as sales volume increases. Finally, the low price must help keep out the competition, and the penetration pricer must maintain its low-price position-otherwise, the price advantage may be only temporary. For example, Dell faced difficult times when IBM and other competitors established their own direct distribution channels. However, through its dedication to low production and distribution costs, Dell has retained its price advantage and established itself as the industry's number-one PC maker.

prices gradually over the years to attract new buyers.

Market-penetration pricing Sett~nga low price for a new producti n Order to attract a largenumber Of buyers and a large market share.

J -F

The strategy for setting a product's price is often changed when the product is part of a product mix. In this case, the firm looks for a set of prices that maximizes the profits on the total product mix. Pricing is difficult because the various products have related demand and costs and face different degrees of competition. We now take a closer look at the five product mix pricing situations summarized in Table 11.1: product line pricing, optional-product pricing, captive-prod uct pricing, by-product pricing, and product bundle pricing.

Companies usually develop product lines rather than single products. For example, Snapper makes many different lawn mowers, ranging from simple walk-behind versions starting at

Product Mix Pricing Strategies

Strategy

_ .. . ... .. _ Product line pricing Optional-product pricing Captive-product pricing By-product pricing Product bundle pricing

Description _. .._ _..._.-_.___.I-_.__I_._-__-

Setting price steps between product line items Pricing optional or accessory products sold with the main product Pricing products that must be used with the main product' Pricing low-value by-products to get rid of them Pricing bundles of products sold together

3 10

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Thsro ate trvo ttmgs you'i~tine only at Gramophona: T ~ lines O sound systems tom ~5.000to St2O.OOO. And 0 dodlsatlon lo m w i t lllot m u t c l l u ~tlw pnnrion of tho poople who sroatod iL

GRAMOPHONE

~ ' ~ ~ , ~ ~ $ ' $ c ~ .-ll__,____I_____..-______C__...f .... - H Product Line pricing. Gramophone sells a complete line of high quality sound systems, ranging in price from $5,000 to $120,000.

2

__iA___i-_i-.-L-4---.-

~

~

~

~

$349.00, to elaborate "Yard Cruisers" and lawn tractors priced at $2,200 or more. Each successive lawn mower in the line offers more features. And Gramophone makes a complete line of high-quality sound systems, ranging in price from $5,000 to $120,000. In product line pricing, management must decide on the price steps to set between the various products in a line. The price steps should take into account cost differences between the products in the line, customer evaluations of their different features, and competitors' prices. In many industries, sellers use well-established price points for the products in their line. Thus, men's clothing stores might carry men's suits at three price levels: $185, $325, and $495. The customer will probably associate low-, average-, and highquality suits with the three price points. Even if w ~ ~ - ~ the three prices are raised a little, men normally will buy suits at their own preferred price points. The seller's task is to establish perceived quality differences that support the price differences.

-------;

Product line pricing Setting the price steps between various products in a product line based on cost differences between the products, customer evaluations of different features, and competitors' prices.

Optional-product pricing The pricing of optional or accessory products along with a main product.

Many companies use optional-product pricing-offering to sell optional or accessory products along with their main product. For example, a car buyer may choose to order alloy wheels and a CD changer. Refrigerators come with optional ice makers. And an iPod buyer can also choose from a bewildering array of accessories, everything from travel chargers and FM transmitters to external speakers and armband carrying cases. Pricing these options is a sticky problem. Automobile companies must decide which items to include in the base price and which to offer as options. Until recent years, General Motors' normal pricing strategy was to advertise a stripped-down model at a base price to pull people into showrooms and then to devote most of the showroom space to showing optionloaded cars at higher prices. The economy model was stripped of so many comforts and conveniences that most buyers rejected it. Then, GM and other U.S. car makers followed the examples of the Japanese and German automakers and included in the sticker price many useful items previously sold only as options. Most advertised prices today represent wellequipped cars.

Captive-Product Pricing

-. , -- *= =_ ._,- _ Captive-product pricing: At Six Flags, you pay a daily ticket or season pass charge plus additional fees for food and other in-park features. - 7 - -

_.>Advertise on MoBuli Plus

&4.

Stay ahead ai your aclpsbbon and make tha mas: oi yoor sdssrbsmg budget by prowding rsakime .e>>sgar .. en stu&n:s tha: have m:pre5586 u1br&t m your business!

,,. .

and Japan, and it's slowly gaining popularity in the United States. American Express recently launched Mobile Offers, which sends willing cardholders "coupons" from local merchants via text messages to cell phones. And at the University of South Florida, local businesses can: send out text message coupons directly to interested students' cell phones via the university's MoBull Messenger system. For instance, if a local pizza place is having a slow night, it can log in and blast out a two-for-one pizza coupon to students who have ~ p t e d - i n . ~ ~ Cash refunds (or rebates) are like coupons except that the price reduction occurs after the purchase rather than at the retail outlet. The consumer sends a "proof of purchase" to the manufacturer, who then refunds part of the purchase price by mail. For example, Toro ran a clever preseason promotion on some of its snowblower models, offering a rebate if the snowfall in the buyer's market area turned out to be below average. Competitors were not able to match this offer on such short notice, and the promotion was very successful. Price packs (also called cents-ofldeals) offer consumers savings off the regular price of a product. The producer marks the reduced prices directly on the label or package. Price packs can be single packages sold at a reduced price (such as two for the price of one) or two related products banded together (such as a toothbrush and toothpaste). Price packs are very effective-even more so than coupons-in stimulating short-term sales. Premiums are goods offered either free or at low cost as an incentive to buy a product, ranging from toys included with kids' products to phone cards and DVDs. A premium may come inside the package (in-pack), outside the package (on-pack), or through the mail. Kellogg often incorporates premiums with its cereals and related products. For instance, it recently offered a free Cars racer, based on characters &om the Disney/Pixar movie, inside specially marked boxes of Apple Jacks. And buyers of Kellogg Frosted Flakes Cereal & Milk Bars could buy an Ice Age II: The Meltdown pop-up tent by mailing in two UPC symbols along with a check for $9.99. Advertising specialties, also called promotional products, are useful articles imprinted with an advertiser's name, logo, or message that are given as gifts to consumers. ~ y p i c aitems l include T-shirts and other apparel, pens, coffee mugs, calendars, key rings, mouse pads, matches, tote bags, coolers, golf balls, and caps. US. marketers spent more than $18 billion on advertising specialties last year. Such items can be very effective. The "best of them stick

472

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix around for months, subtly burning a brand name into a user's brain," notes a promotional products expert. In a recent study, 71 percent of all consumers surveyed had received at least one promotional in the past 12 months. Seventy-six percent of those were able to recall the advertiser's name on the promotional product they received, compared to only 53.5 percent who could recall the name of advertiser in a print publication they had read in the past week.31 Patronage rewards are cash or other awards offered for the regular use of a certain company's products or services. For example, airlines offer frequent flier plans, awarding points for miles traveled that can be turned in for free airline trips. And supermarkets issue frequent shopper cards that dole out a wealth of discounts at the checkout. Office Depot offers fiequentpurchase awards-using its Worklife Rewards card, customers who spend at least $200 at Office Depot in three months earn gift cards worth up to $50 that can be used toward future purchases. Point-of-purchase (POP) promotions include displays and demonstrations that take place at the point of sale. Think of your last visit to the local Safeway, Costco, CVS, or Bed Bath & Beyond. Chances are good that you were tripping over aisle displays, promotional signs, "shelf talkers," or demonstrators offering free tastes of featured food products. Unfortunately, many retailers do not like to handle the hundreds of displays, signs, and posters they receive from manufacturers each year. Manufacturers have responded by offering better POP materials, offering to set them up, and tying them in with television, print, or online messages. Contests, sweepstakes, and games give consumers the chance to win something, such as cash, trips, or goods, by luck or through extra effort. A contest calls for consumers to submit an entry-a jingle, guess, suggestion-to be judged by a panel that will select the best entries. A sweepstakes calls for consumers to submit their names for a drawing. A game presents consumers with something-bingo numbers, missing letters-every time they buy, which may or may not help them win a prize. A sales contest urges dealers or the sales force to increase their efforts, with prizes going to the top performers.

Trade promotion tools Sales promotion tools used to persuade resellers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, promote it in advertising, and push it to consumers.

Business promotion tools Sales promotion tools used to generate business leads, stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate salespeople.

Manufacturers direct more sales promotion dollars toward retailers and wholesalers (78 percent) than to final consumers (22 percent).32Trade promotion tools can persuade resellers to carry a brand, give it shelf space, promote it in advertising, and push it to consumers. Shelf space is so scarce these days that manufacturers often have to offer price-offs, allowances, buy-back guarantees, or free goods to retailers and wholesalers to get products on the shelf and, once there, to keep them on it. Manufacturers use several trade promotion tools. Many of the tools used for consumer promotions-contests, premiums, displays-can also be used as trade promotions. Or the manufacturer may offer a straight discount off the list price on each case purchased during a stated period of time (also called a price-ofjc, off-invoice, or off-list). Manufacturers also may offer an allowance (usually so much off per case) in return for the retailer's agreement to feature the manufacturer's products in some way. An advertising allowance compensates retailers for advertising the product. A display allowance compensates them for using special displays. Manufacturers may offer free goods, which are extra cases of merchandise, to resellers who buy a certain quantity or who feature a certain flavor or size. They may offer push money-cash or gifts to dealers or their sales forces to "push" the manufacturer's goods. Manufacturers may give retailers free specialty advertising items that carry the company's name, such as pens, pencils, calendars, paperweights, matchbooks, memo pads, and yardsticks.

Companies spend billions of dollars each year on promotion to industrial customers. Business promotion tools are used to generate business leads, stimulate purchases, reward customers, and motivate salespeople. Business promotion includes many of the same tools used for consumer or trade promotions. Here, we focus on two additional major business promotion tools-conventions and trade shows, and sales contests. Many companies and trade associations organize conventions and trade shows to promote their products. Firms selling to the industry show their products at the trade show. . Vendors receive many benefits, such as opportunities to find new sales leads, contact customers, introduce new products, meet new customers, sell more to present customers, and educate customers with publications and audiovisual materials. Trade shows also help companies reach many prospects not reached through their sales forces. Some trade shows are huge. For example, at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show, 2,500 exhibitors attracted more than 150,000 professional visitors. Even more impressive, at the BAUMA mining and construction equipment trade show in Munich, Germany, some

Chapter 16

Personal Selling and Sales Promotion

473

2,800 exhibitors from 47 countries presented their latest product innovations to more than 416,000 attendees from 1 7 1 countries.33 A sales contest is a contest for salespeople or dealers to motivate them to increase their sales performance over a given period. Sales contests motivate and recognize good company performers, who may receive trips, cash prizes, or other gifts. Some companies award points for performance, which the receiver can turn in for any of a variety of prizes. Sales contests work best when they are tied to measurable and achievable sales objectives (such as finding new accounts, reviving old accounts, or increasing account profitability).

B Some trade shows are huge. At this year's International Consumer Electronics Show, 2,500 exhibitors attracted more than 150,000 professional visitors.

Beyond selecting the types of promotions to use, marketers must make several other decisions in designing the full sales promotion program. First, they must decide on the size of the incentive. A certain minimum incentive is necessary if the promotion is to succeed; a larger incentive will produce more sales response. The marketer also must set conditions for participation. Incentives might be offered to everyone or only to select groups. Marketers must decide how to promote and distribute the promotion program itself. A $&off coupon could be given out in a package, at the store, via the Internet, or in an advertisement. Each distribution method involves a different level of reach and cost. Increasingly, marketers are blending several media formats into a total campaign concept. The length ofthe promotion is also important. If the sales promotion period is too short, many prospects (who may not be buying during that time) will miss it. If the promotion runs too long, the deal wilI lose some of its "act now" force. Evaluation is also very important. Many companies fail to evaluate their sales promotion programs, and others evaluate them only superficially. Yet marketers should work to measure the returns on their sales promotion investments, just as they should seek to assess the returns on other marketing activities. The most common evaluation method is to compare sales before, during, and after a promotion. Marketers should ask: Did the promotion attract new customers or more purchasing from current customers? Can we hold onto these new customers and purchases? Will the long-run customer relationship and sales gains from the promotion justify its costs? Clearly, sales promotion plays an important role in the total promotion mix. To use it well, the marketer must define the sales promotion objectives, select the best tools, design the sales promotion program, implement the program, and evaluate the results. Moreover, sales promotion must be coordinated carefully with other promotion mix elements within the overall integrated marketing communications program.

This chapter is the third of four chapters covering the final marketing mix element-promotion. The two previous chapters dealt with overall integrated marketing communications and with advertising and public relations. This one investigates personal selling and sales promotion. Personal selling is the interpersonal arm of the communications mix. Sales promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service. 1. Discuss the role of a company's salespeople in creating value for cus. tomers and building customer relationships.

Most companies use salespeople, and many companies assign them an important role in the marketing mix. For companies selling busi-

ness products, the firm's salespeople work directly with customers. Often, the sales force is the customer's only direct contact with the company and therefore may be viewed by customers as representing the company itself. In contrast,for consumer product companies that sell through intermediaries,consumers usually do not meet salespeople or even know about them. The sales force works behind the scenes, dealing with wholesalers and retailers to obtain their support and helping them become effectivein selling the firm's products. As an element of the promotion mix, the sales force is very effective in achieving certain marketing objectives and carrying out such activities as prospecting, communicating, selling and servicing, and information gathering. But with companies becoming more market

474

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

oriented, a customer-focused sales force also works to produce both customer satisfaction and company profit. The sales force plays a key role in developing and managing profitable customer relationships.

because they must make many decisions and face many frustrations. Periodically, the company must evaluate their performance to help them do a better job. In evaluatingsalespeople, the company relies on getting regular information gathered through sales reports, personal observations, customers' letters and complaints, customer surveys, and conversations with other salespeople.

2. Identify and explain the six major sales force management steps. High sales force costs necessitate an effective sales management process consisting of six steps: designing sales force strategy and structure, recruiting and selecting, training, compensating, supervising, and evaluating salespeople and sales force performance. In designing a sales force, sales management must address strategy issues such as what type of sales force structure will work best (territorial, product, customer, or complexcstructure); how large the sales force should be; who will be involved in the selling effort; and how its various sales and sales support people will work together (inside or outside sales forces and team selling). To hold down the high costs of hiring the wrong people, salespeople must be recruited and selected carefully. In recruiting salespeople, a company may look to job duties and the characteristics of its most successful salespeople to suggest the traits it wants in its salespeople. It must then look for applicants through recommendations of current salespeople, employment agencies, classified ads, and the Internet and by contacting college students. In the selection process, the procedure can vary from a single informal interview to lengthy testing and interviewing. After the selection process is complete, training programs familiarize new salespeople not only with the art of selling but also with the company's history, its products and policies, and the characteristics of its market and competitors. The sales force compensation system helps to reward, motivate, and direct salespeople. In compensating salespeople, companies try to have an appealing plan, usually close to the going rate for the type of sales job and needed skills. In addition to compensation, all salespeople need supervision, and many need continuous encouragement

4. Explain how sales promotion campaigns are developed and implemented. Sales promotion campaigns call for setting sales promotions objectives (in general, sales promotions should be consumer relationship building); selecting tools; and developing and implementing the sales promotion program by using consumer promotion tools (coupons, cash refund offers, price packs, premiums, advertising specialties, patronage rewards, point-of-purchase promotions, and contests, sweepstakes, and games), trade promotion tools (discounts, allowances, free goods, and push money), and business promotion tools (conventions, trade shows, and sales contests) as well as deciding on such things as the size of the incentive, the conditions for participation, how to promote and distribute the promotion package, and the length of the promotion. After this process is completed, the company evaluates it sales promotion results.

Approach 466 Business promotion tools 472 Closing 468 Consumer promotion tools 470 Customer sales force structure 454

Presentation 467 Product sales force structure 454 Prospecting 466 Sales force management 454 Sales promotion 468 Sales quota 464

Follow-up 468 Handling objections 468 Inside sales force 457 Outside sales force (or field sales force) 457 Personal selling 452 Preapproach 466

3. Discuss the personal selling process, distinguishingbetween transactionoriented marketing and relationship marketing. The art of selling involves a seven-step selling process: prospecting and qualieing, preapproach, approach, presentationand demonstration, handling objections, closing, and follow-up. These steps he1p marketers close a specific sale and as such are transaction oriented. However, a seller's dealings with customers should be guided by the larger concept of relationship marketing. The company's sales force should help to orchestrate a whole-company effort to develop profitable long-term relationships with key customers based on superior -customervalue and satisfaction.

Salesperson 453 Selling process 466 Team selling 458 Territorial sales force structure 454 Trade promotion tools 472

Discussing the Conceppats 1. According to the chapter, salespeople serve "two masters." What does this mean? Is it a good or bad thing?

2. The chapter states that the ability to build relationships with customers is the most important of a salesperson's key talents. Do you agree? Explain. 3. DuPont sells thousands of industrial and consumer products throughout the world. It serves industries as diverse as aerospace, agriculture, and health care. Describe how DuPont can best structure its sales force. 4. A start-up manufacturer of low-carbohydrate muffins wants to sell its product in supermarkets all along the East Coast. It has identified

400 large supermarket chains and 100 smaller chains. The large supermarket chains will require 30 calls per year and the smaller stores 10 calls per year. An average salesperson can make 1,000 calls per year. Using the workload approach for setting sales force size, how many salespeople will this manufacturer need? 5. What are the main differences between sales promotion and advertising? 6. Explain why there has been rapid growth in the use of sales promotions.

Chapter 16

1. Who in your class would make a good salesperson?Why? 2. Work in pairs to describe the stages in the selling process for a small Minneapolis company that sells cleaning services to owners of small businesses, such as hair salons, dentists' offices, and clothing stores. Role-play the actual selling process, from approach to close, with one team member acting as the salesperson. The other mem-

High-level salespeople need sophisticated tools to perform more effectively, especially when on the road. They need to gather customer contact information, check updated product inventories, and keep track of order information. Strong customer relationship management systems, such as those offered by SAP (www.sap.com), provide many features that empower the sales force. Visit SAP online to find information on the mySAP business suite and mySAP CRM. The Web site outlines the features of mySAP CRM, which benefit salespeople as follows: Sales planning and forecasting Territory management Account and contact management Lead and opportunity management Quotation and order management

Personal Selling and Sales Promotion

ber of the team should act as a customer and raise at least three objections.

3. Suppose you are the marketing coordinator responsible for recommending the sales promotion plan for the market launch of a new brand of Red Bull energy drink sold in supermarkets. What promotional tools would you consider for this task? Explain.

* Contract management Incentive and commission management Time and travel management Sales analytics 1. Explain which SAP functions apply to sales force management and which tie in more to the salesperson's daily role with the customers. 2. Explain how these SAP functions fit into the personal selling process for an office furniture sales representative selling a new line of office chairs to an existing large customer.

Q

Q

3. Why would a company choose not to use SAP products?

Q

You are the senior sales manager for Johnson Manufacturing. Your company has developed a machine that makes electronic components faster and with a lower defect rate than your major competitor's machines. You call on Haywood Electronics, an important customer, to discuss its purchase of the neh machine. Haywood's buyers have been very enthusiastic, but when you arrive, they want to discuss the results of some recent tests they've conducted. They show you output that shows that your competitor's new machine produces components at 1.2 times the rate of your machine with a .O1 lower defect rate. Based on this research, they ask for

a reduction on the price of your machine from $800,000 to $500,000. When you return to your company and talk to the vice president of manufacturing, she states that the test results are impossible and that the tests must have been faulty or the results intentionallyfalsified.

All across the globe, consumers are seeking all-natural, wholesome foods. Even Wal-Mart, a low-price leader, carries organic and all-natural foods. Nudie, a quirky little company in Australia, makes its own contribution to the fast-growing natural foods market-all-natural fruit juices, fruit crushes, and smoothies that provide a day's fruit in every bottle. Amidst a sea of all-natural products, how did Nudie reach customers and encourage them to try its new products? Through a carefully designed program of personal selling and sales promotion. Nudie uses well-crafted point-of-purchase displays and a devoted, motivated sales force to work with resellers to reach consumers. As a result, Nudie is the fastest-growing juice maker in Australia, attracting an ever-increasing number of highly devoted customers who love Nudie's

products. Says one Nudie customer, "Don't be a prudie . . . get thee a Nudie." Says another, "Love and happiness are overrated. But Nudies make living worthwhile!" After viewing the video featuring Nudie, answer the following Cluestions about personal selling and sales promotion.

What actions would you take? Why is it important that you be careful with your reaction to this situation? Could such a situation really happen? Discuss.

1. HOWdoes Nudie's process for selecting sales representatives compare to the process described in the text? 2. What sales promotion tools does Nudie employ to reach consumers and encourage sales?

3- Select a sales promotion tool not listed in your previous response. HOWcould Nudie use that tool to further promote its products?

When someone says "salesperson," what image comes to mind? Perhaps it's the stereotypical "traveling salesman1'Lear's customer orientation is evident-inall aspects of operathe fast-talking, ever-smiling peddler who travels his territory tions, from design through manufacturing. But perhaps more foisting his wares on reluctant customers. Such stereotypes, than any other part of the organization, it's Lear's outstandhowever, are sadly out of date. Today, most professional ing sales force that makes the company's credo, "Consumer salespeople are well-educated, well-trained men and women driven. Customer focused," ring true. Lear's sales force was who work to build long-term, value-producing relationships recently rated by Sales b Marketing Management magazine with their customers. They succeed not by taking customers as one of "America's Best Sales Forces." What makes this an in, but by helping them out-by assessing customer needs outstanding sales force? Lear knows that good selling these and solving customer problems. days takes much more than just a sales rep covering a terriOne company that has been able to employ such a tory and convincing customers to buy the product. It takes customer-centric sales philosophy is the Lear Corporation. teamwork, relationship building, and doing what's best for From its humble beginnings in 1917 as a manufacturer of the customer. Lear's sales force excels at these tasks. tubular assemblies for the automotive and aircraft indusLear's sales depend completely on the success of its custries, Lear has grown into one of the largest and most suc- tomers. If the automakers don't sell cars, Lear doesn't sell cessful automotive suppliers in the world. In 2005, Lear interiors. So the Lear sales force strives to create not just achieved revenues of $17.1 billion, 127th among the sales, but customer success. In fact, Lear salespeople aren't Fortune 500. "sales reps," they're "account managersJ' who function For decades, Lear dominated the automotive parts more as consultants than as order getters. "Our salespeople industry as a maker of seat systems. But through 18 major don't really close deals," notes a senior marketing execuacquisitions since it went public in 1994, Lear has broad- tive. "They consult and work with customers to learn ened its product line to include all five major vehicle inte- exactly what's needed and when." rior systems-instrument panels and cockpits, door and Lear's growth and expansion of its product line have trim, overhead and flooring, and acoustic systems. Lear is been driven by the quest to better meet customers' needs. also one of the leading global suppliers of automotive elec- As Lear has diversified its product line from seats to all tronics and electrical distribution systems. parts of a vehicle's interior, it has become a kind of "oneLear's customers include most of the world's leading stop shopping" source. As the provision of complete inteautomotive companies, from high-volume producers such rior solutions benefits customers, it also benefits Lear. "It as Ford, DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Fiat, and Toyota, used to be that we'd build a partnership and then get only a to boutique brands such as Ferrari and Rolls-Royce. limited amount of revenue from it," the executive says. Currently, Lear products are found in new products pro- "Now we can get as much as possible out of our customer duced by more than 300 nameplates around the world. With relationships. " 115,000 employees, Lear designs, engineers, and manufacLear's heavy customer focus has lead to a structure that is tures products in more than 280 facilities in 34 countries. broken up into separate divisions dedicated to specific cusAlong with all this growth, Lear has experienced periods tomers. For example, there's a Ford division and a General of superb financial performance. The company achieved Motors division, and each operates as its own profit center. record-breaking sales and earnings growth throughout the Within each division, high-level "platform teamsu-made 1990s. During that decade, its "average content per car" in up of salespeople, engineers, and program managers-work North America increased more than fourfold. Not surpris- closely with their customer counterparts. These platform ingly, Lear's revenues more than doubled in the latter half of teams are closely supported by divisional manufacturing, the '90s. Currently, the company owns roughly 30 percent finance, quality, and advanced technology groups. of the North American interior components market. The platform team structure has allowed Lear to be very Lear has achieved this tremendous growth by focusing re.sponsive to customer needs. In 1999, leaders at GM on the customer. In a description of its business philosophy, wanted to expand their commercial van business. One idea Lear states: was to create a new model by fitting an existing van shell with deluxe leather seating; flip-down, flat-panel screens, "The success of Lear is a result of our dedication to and other high-tech gadgets. "It would have taken two, provide the best possible service to the world's maybe three years to make a van like this in the GM sysautomakers-which includes understanding their tem," says Larry Szydlowski, GM's program manager for the customers, the automotive consumer-by delivering Express LT. In that time, the demand for such a van might increased value through the latest vehicle interior have come and gone. Or, a competitor might have been first technologies and the continuous improvement of our to market with a product fitting that concept. processes and product quality. All of this is reflected But based on efficiencies derived from its platform in Lear's exclusive People-Vehicle-Interface teams, Lear confidently predicted that it could go from conMethodology. By utilizing the PVI Method, Lear tract to product in just one year. The claim was so outraemploys an innovation development discipline that geous that GM hesitated. So, Lear took a risk and invested in turns market opportunities into the products that cona physical prototype on its own. GM was so impressed, that sumers want and customers need in their vehicles."

476

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

it awarded the lucrative contract to Lear. One year later, as promised, the Express LT was in production. Lear has achieved another sales team efficiency by limiting its customer base to fewer major customers rather than many small-contract customers. This has allowed sales teams to get very close to their customers. "Our teams don't call on purchasers; they're linked to customer operations at all levels," the marketer notes. "We try to put a system in place that creates continuous contact with customers." In fact, Lear often locates its sales offices in customers' plants. For example, the team that handles GM's light truck division works at GM's truck operation campus. "We can't just be there to give quotes and ask for orders," says the marketing executive. "We need to be involved with customers every step of the way-from vehicle concept through launch."

Whereas the 1990s were golden years for Lear, numerous factors combined to create a dismal situation as the new millennium unfolded. Despite the fact that Lear captured 2005 revenues of more than $17 billion, it posted a net loss of $1.3 billion. Almost half of that loss came in the fourth quarter alone. Ironically, many of the factors responsible for Lear's earlier success may now be responsible for its current downturn. For starters, gas prices went up. Although this was nothing that Lear could have stopped, as gas prices have risen, industry-wide vehicle sales have slowed. The biggest casualties have been SUVs and light trucks, models that litter the product lines for the Big Three automakers. Additionally, the downturn in SUV and truck sales has come at an inopportune time. The large American car companies were already losing market share to foreign competitors in other categories as well. Whereas Lear's strategy of limiting its customer base has allowed it to achieve close customer relations, tough times for these large customers are wreaking havoc on Lear's sales. Lear's product diversification strategy, which has been a key to building customer relationships, is also contributing to current losses. In 2005, the company spent a record $586 million on capital investments, in part to become a total supplier for its largest customers. At the same time, however, these large customers have abandoned their strategy of sourcing all vehicle interior components to one supplier. As of 2006, things are looking better for Lear, at least in its seating and electronics segments. However, despite overall first-quarter profits of $17.9 million, Lear's interior systems business continues to hemorrhage money, showing a $59.5 million loss. Given that this division has been

its poorest performer for some time, Lear is considering the option of selling the business and restructuring it on its own. Lear also has been struggling to absorb double-digit increases in plastic resin prices and increases in other raw materials. Feeling the pinch from its plastic suppliers, Lear has attempted to work with customers in order to pass on some of those costs. As a result, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group sued the company, claiming that Lear threatened to stop shipping parts if Chrysler didn't comply. Maintaining profitable relationships with large customers takes much more than a nice smile and a firm handshake. And certainly there's no place for the "smoke and mirrors" or "flimflam" sometimes mistakenly associated with personal selling. Success in such a selling environment requires careful teamwork among well-trained, dedicated sales professionals who are bent on profitably taking care of their customers. But even as Lear has focused on these principles, it has found that maintaining solid customer relationships can at times be very difficult.

1. Classify Lear's sales force structure. What role has this

structure played in the company's successes and failures? 2. What role does team selling play in Lear's sales force

strategy? Should Lear make any changes to this strategy? 3. What implications would selling its interior systems

division have on Lear's sales force and its ability to serve its customers? What do you recommend that Lear do? 4. Make other recommendations for how Lear can reverse the difficulties that it now faces. How would you implement each recommendation? Sources: Jesse Eisinger, "Lear Case Shows Sometimes Investors Can Detect Crises Before Management," Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2006, p. C1; Terry Kosdrosky, "Lear Posts $596 Million Loss But Expects Improved 2006," Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2006, p. A7; Terry Kosdrosky, "Lear's Profit Climbs 15%," Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2006, accessed online at www.wsj.com; Judy Bocldage and Paul Welitzkin, "Lear Profit Soared in First Period, But Borg-Warner Swung to Loss," Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2002, p. D5; Andy Cohen, "Top of the Charts: Lear Corporation," Sales b Marketing Management, July 1998, p. 40; Fara Warner, "Lear Won't Take a Back Seat," Fast Company, June 2001, pp. 178-185; "America's 25 Best Sales Forces," Sales b Marketing Management, accessed online at www.salesandmarketing.com, July 2002; "Lear Corporation," Sales b Marketing Management, July 1999, p. 62; and "About Lear," accessed online at wwtv.lear.com, June 2006.

Chapter 16 Personal Selling and Sales Promotion

hen 19-year-old Michael Dell began selling personal computers out of his college dorm room in 1984, competitors and industry insiders scoffed at the concept of direct computer marketing. Yet young Michael proved the skeptics wrong-way wrong. In little more than two decades, he has turned his dorm-room mail-order business into the burgeoning, $56 billion Dell computer empire. Dell is now the world's largest direct marketer of computer systems and the number-one PC maker worldwide. In the United States, Dell is number-one in desktop PC sales, number-one in laptops, number-one in servers, and number-two (and gaining) in printers. In fact, Dell flat out dominates the U.S. PC market, with a 33.5 percent market share, compared with number-two HP's 19.4 percent and number-three Gateway's 6.1 percent. Dell has produced a ten-year average annual return to investors of 39 percent, best among all Fortune 100 companies. Investors have enjoyed explosive share gains of more than 28,000 percent since Dell went public fewer than 20 years ago. What's the secret to Dell's stunning success?Anyone at Dell can tell you without hesitation: It's the company's radically different business model-the direct model. "We have a tremendously clear business model," says Michael Dell, the company's 41-year-old founder and chairman. "There's no confusion about what the value proposition is, what the company offers, and why it's great for customers." An industry analyst agrees: "There's no better way to make, sell, and deliver PCs than the way Dell does it, and nobody executes [the direct1 model better than Dell." Dell's direct-marketing approach delivers greater customer value through an inbeatable combination of product customization, low prices, fast delivery, and award-winning customer service. A customer can talk by phone with a Dell representative at 1-800-Buy-Dell or log onto www.dell.com on Monday morning; order a fully customized, state-of-the-art PC to suit his or her special needs; and have the machine delivered to his or her doorstep or desktop by Wednesday-all at a price that's well below competitors' prices for a comparably performing PC. Dell backs its products with high-quality service and support. As a result, Dell consistently ranks among the industry leaders in product reliability and service, and its customers are routinely among the industry's most satisfied. Dell customers get exactly the machines they need. Michael Dell's initial idea was to serve individual buyers by letting them customize machines with the special features they wanted at low prices. However, this one-to-one approach also appeals strongly to corporate buyers, because Dell can so easily preconfigure each computer

Beginning with the ctrstoaier.

....,... . .,,.l...I, ., s

:,,slr::.i!

..t::..ii::.

., ., a >.,,..

,,jz;.

1.

,,

.

.,

.

.

,

_

,

.

.

/

to precise requirements. Dell routinely preloads machines with a company's own software and even undertakes tedious tasks such as pasting inventory tags onto each machine so that computers can be delivered directly to a given employee's desk. As a result, more than 85 percent of Dell's sales come from business, government, and educational buyers. The direct model results in more efficient selling and lower costs, which translate into lower prices for customers. "Nobody, but nobody, makes [and markets] computer hardware more efficiently than Dell," says another analyst. "No unnecessary costs: This is an all-but-sacred mandate of the famous Dell direct business model." Because Dell builds machines to order, it carries barely any inventoryless than three days' worth by some accounts. Dealing one-to-one with customers helps the company react immediately to shifts in demand, so Dell doesn't get stuck with PCs no one wants. Finally, by selling directly, Dell has no dealers to pay. As a result, on average, Dell's costs are 12 percent lower than those of its leading PC competitor. Dell knows that time is money, and the company is obsessed with "speed." According to one account, Dell squeezes "time out of every step in the processfrom the moment an order is taken to collecting the cash. [By selling direct, manufacturing to order, and] tapping credit cards and electronic payment, Dell converts the average sale to cash in less than 24 hours." By contrast, competitors selling through dealers might take 35 days or longer.

-.

.

il.

___

.

______:

'_

i

-

i.-..i.-

-.-.

480

Part 3 Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Such blazing speed results in more satisfied customers and still lower costs. For example, customers are often delighted to find their new computers arriving within as few as 36 hours of placing an order. And because Dell doesn't order parts until an order is booked, it can take advantage of ever-falling component costs. On average, its parts are 60 days newer than those in competing machines, and, hence, 60 days farther down the price curve. This gives Dell a 6 percent profit advantage from parts costs alone. As you might imagine, competitors are no longer scoffing at Michael Dell's vision of the future. In fact, competing and noncompeting companies alike are studying the Dell direct model closely. "Somehow Dell has been able to take flexibility and speed and build it into their DNA. It's almost like drinking water," says the CEO of another Fortune 500 company, who visited recently to absorb some of the Dell magic to apply to his own company. "I'm trying to drink as much water here as I can." Still, as Dell grows larger and as the once-torrid growth in the sales of PCs slows, the Dell direct model is facing challenges. After years of rocketing revenue and profit numbers, Dell's recent growth has slowed. Although Dell still dominates in selling PCs, servers, and peripherals to business markets, it appears to be stum bling in its attempts to sell an expanding assortment of high-tech consumer electronics products to final buyers. Some analysts suggest that Dell's vaunted direct model may not work as well for selling LCD TVs, handhelds, MP3 players, digital cameras, and other personal digital devices-products that consumers want to see and experience first-hand before buying. In fact, Dell plans to add retail stores to help bolster the consumer side of its business. Slowing growth has led some analysts to ask, "Is the much-feared Dell Way running out of gas?" No way, says Dell. There's no question, the company admits, that Dell isn't the high-flying growth company it once was-you can't expect a $56-billion-a-year giant to grow like a full-throttle start-up. But Dell continues to dominate its PC markets, and other companies would kill for Dell's "disappointing" growth numbers-sales last year grew 13.6 percent, and profits were up 17.4 percent. "we still have an outrageous track record," says Dell CEO Kevin Rollins. "Our [direct] model still works very well," Michael Dell agrees. "We wouldn't trade ours for anyone else's!" he says. "In the past ten years our sales are up about 15 times, earnings and the stock price are up about 20 times. Not too shabby!" It's hard to argue with success, and Michael Dell has been very successful. By following his hunches, at the tender age of 41 he has built one of the world's hottest companies. In the process, he's become one of the world's richest men, amassing a personal fortune of more than $17 bi1lion.l

Direct marketing Direct con-

carefully targeted individual -consumers to both obtain a n immediate response and reF

Many of the marketing and promotion tools that we've examined in previous chapters were developed in the context of mass marketing: targeting broad markets with standardized messages and offers distributed through intermediaries. Today, however, with the trend toward m o w n a o w l y targeted marketing, many companies are adopting direct marketink either as a primary marketing approach or as a s u ~ u l e m e n to t other approaches. In this section, we explore the exploding world of direct marketing. Direct marketing consists of-di;rect connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships. Direct marketers communicate directly with customers, often on a one-to-one, interactive basis. Using detailed databases, they tailor their marketing offers and comrnunications to the needs of narrowly defined segments or even individual buyers. Beyond brand and relationship building, direct marketers usually seek a direct, immediate, and measurable consumer response. For example, as we learned in the chapter-opening story, Dell interacts directly with customers, by telephone or through its Web site, to design built-to-order systems that meet customers' individual needs. Buyers order directly from Dell, and Dell cpickly and efficiently delivers the new computers to their homes or offices.

Early direct marketers-catalog companies, direct mailers, and telemarketers-gathered customer names and sold goods mainly by mail and telephone. Today, however, fired by rapid advances in database technologies and new marketing media-especially the Internet-direct

Chapter 17

Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

481

marketing has undergone a dramatic transformation. According to the head of the Direct Marketing Association, "In recent years, the dramatic growth of the Internet and the increasing sophistication of database technologies have [created] an extraordinary expansion of direct marketing and a seismic shift in what it is, how it's used, and who uses it."2 In previous chapters, we've discussed direct marketinn a&ect distribution-as marketing channels that contain no intermediaries. We also include direct marketing as one element s an approach for communicating directly with consumers. In actualMost companies still use direct marketing as a supplementary channel or medium for marketing their goods and messages. Thus, Lexus markets mostly through mass-media advertising and its high-quality dealer network but also supplements these channels with direct marketing. Its direct marketing includes promotional CDs and other materials mailed directly to prospective buyers and a Web page (www.lexus.com) that provides consumers with information about various models, competitive comparisons, financing, and dealer locations. Similarly, most department stores sell the majority of their merchandise off their store shelves but also sell through direct mail and online catalogs. However, for many companies today, direct marketing is more than just a supplementary channel or medium. For these companies, direct marketing-especially in its most recent transformation, online marketing-constitutes a complete model for doing business. More than just another marketing channel or advertising medium, this new direct model is rapidly changing the way companies think about building relationships with customers. Rather than using direct marketing and the Internet only as supplemental approaches, firms employing the direct model use it as the only approach. Companies such as Dell, Amazon.com, eBay, and GEICO have built their entire approach to the marketplace around direct marketing.

Direct marketing has become the fastest-growing form of marketing. According to the Direct Marketing Association, U.S. companies spent $161 billion on direct marketing last year, accounting for whopping 48 percent of total U.S. advertising expenditures. These expenditures generated an estimated $1.85 trillion in direct marketing sales, or about 7 percent of total sales in the U.S. economy. And direct-marketing-driven sales are growing rapidly. The DMA estimates that direct marketing sales will grow 6.4 percent annually through 2009, compared with a projected 4.8 percent annual growth for total U.S. sales.3 HG:Y n;ucl? .-ocic! yari cave on car. insur-aZce?

model: Companies such as GEICO have built their entire approach to the marketplace around direct marketing: just visit geico.com or call 1-800947-auto.

New customers report average annual savings over $500 when they moke the switch. C=m:lctr occi.i.. EL ) m i ! I ~ ~ c c I ~ ~ : . Make gelco.com your online outo inruronco resource. Get o quote. learn

about coverages, w e n chol live with a skilled in5urance profesrionol. And once you're 0 GEICO policyholder. you con take odvc~ntoseof feotures like online bill payment and cloim reporting options

Tire right coverose nt the r i ~ l rprice. t Jimrnic 8.. Ridgewal.Vei. Smmd3500 . . .. - ..... ..- .... .........

-.- ...

-

iol:c y a w pici,. Coll or clic! You hove options. Once you get yourquoteanline. you con rtort your policy right owoy. If you hove questions. give us 0 coil to speok with o trained insurmcs counselor. However yorid like to work with us. we're here. The choice is yours!

-

You could save on car insurance.

".

O~llirrencccss lo rml - .volinl- is n b h ~rltrs, David M.. Tacoma. WA. Smed 5600

C I icrvicc ~ ~ tl:oi.r ~ iZr!, rai rind guorwiecd. I f youte ever in on accident. cantoct ur anytime ond we'll get the ball

rolling on your cloim right away Give us a coll or visit geico.com. where you con =._:.-.--=-

Chapter 17

Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

It's late at night and you can't get to sleep. So you grab the TV remote, surf channels, and chance upon nnouncer, breathlessly pitching some new must-have kitchen gadget. A grinning blonde coannouncer fawns over the gadget's every feature, and the studio audience roars its approval. After putting the gadget through its paces, the announcer asks, "How much would you expect to pay? Three hundred dollars? Two hundred? Well, think again! This amazing gadget can be yours for just four easy payments of $19.95, plus shipping and handling!" "Oooooh!" the audience screams. "But wait! There's more," declares the announcer. "If you act now, you will also receive an additional gadget, absolutely free. That's two for the price of one." With operators standing by, you don't have a minute to lose. Sound familiar? We've all seen countless infomercials like this, hawking everything from kitchen gadgets, cleaning compounds, and fitness solutions to psychic advice and get-rich-quick schemes. Traditionally, such pitches have had a kind of fly-by-night feel about them. And in the cold light of day, such a purchase may not seem like such a good deal after all. Such is the reputation of directresponse TV advertising. Yet, behind the hype is a powerful approach to marketing that is becoming more mainstream every day. Ron Popeil pioneered direct-response product sales. Whether you realize it or not, you've probably been exposed to dozens of Popeil's inventions over the years, and his direct-marketing model has become the standard for the infomercial industry. His company, Ronco, has brought us such classics as the Veg-o-Matic, the Electric Food Dehydrator, the Showtime Rotisserie Oven, the GLH Formula Hair System, the Automatic 5-Minute Pasta and Sausage Maker, the Popeil Pocket Fisherman, the Inside the Egg Shell Electric Egg Scrambler, and the Dial-0-Matic Food Slicer. . The use of infomercials has grown explosively in recent years. Why? Because they can produce spectacular results. Although only one in 60 infomercials turns a profit, "successful pitches can generate annual sales of as much as $50 million," notes one analyst. "And breakout hits become gold mines: Ron Popeil has sold $1 billion worth of Ronco rotisserie ovens, and the Tae-Bo Workout infomercial. . . netted $300 million in its first year. Other benefits include viewer recall that can be three times higher than for traditional 30-second spots and phenomenal brand awareness: Ninetytwo percent of consumers have heard of the Nautilus Bowflex home fitness system-about the same number of folks that recognize the Nike brand." Says the head of an infomercial advertising agency, "It's the power of the half-hour." Moreover, the retail store revenue from a successful infomercial can be many times the actual infomercial sales. For example, more than 85 percent of George Foreman's Mean Lean Grilling Machine sales came from retail locations. Mass retailers have embraced such direct-response staples as Foreman's grill, OxiClean, and Orange Glo. Some, such as drug-chain heavyweight Walgreens, devote entire front-of-store sections to such goods. Whereas it used to take years to get retail distribution for "As seen on TV" products, many now make it to store shelves within a month of going on television. Such infomercial success hasn't gone unnoticed among the big hitters in corporate America. Direct-response television marketing is rapidly becoming a mainstay weapon in the marketing arsenals of even the most reputable companies. Marketing heavyweights such as Dell; Procter & Gamble, Disney, lime-Life, General Motors, Apple,

489

Ronco and Ron Popeil, with his Veg-o-Matics, food dehydrators, and electric egg scramblers, paved the way for a host of mainstream marketers who now use direct-response ads.

Motorola, and Sears now use direct-response TV to peddle specific products and promotions and to draw new customers into their other direct-to-consumer channels. For example, Procter & Gamble used a series of infomercials to help propel the Swiffer WetJet past rival Clorox's ReadyMop when other marketing efforts alone failed to do the trick. And P&G launched its Swiffer Dusters product with a campaign that included direct-response ads and a tie-in to the DVD release of the Jennifer Lopez film Maid in Manhattan. Consumers contacting the 1-800 number got coupons for both the new Swiffer Duster and the DVD. Today's infomercials have evolved with the times-most now include highly professional pitches and Web sites to go along with the ever-present toll-free phone number. They also employ a new breed of spokesperson. Once a refuge for Hollywood has-beens such as Suzanne Somers, who squeezed away on her thigh master to blearyeyed insomniacs, infomercials now are now enlisting A-list celebrities. One of the nation's largest infomercial companies, GunthyRenker, pays top dollar for a stable of stars to pitch its Proactiv acne treatment. It paid Sean (P. Diddy) Combs $3 million for a four-hour shoot. In four months, the Combs Proactiv infomercial ran an average of more than 10 times on each of 1,400 local TV stations. Other Proactiv ads have featured Jessica Simpson (paid $2.5 million), Vanessa Williams ($2.5 million), Alicia Keys ($3 million), and Britney Spears ($1million). In all, the ads produced some $650 million in Proactiv sales last year. Interest in direct-response has now expanded beyond the usual fitness, personal-care, and home-care fare. For instance, submarine-

(continues)

490

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

sandwich giant Quiznos has turned to late-night infomercials to sell franchises. Trailing only Subway and Starbucks in the number of franchises opened annually, Quiznoscreated a successful 30-minute spot in which current franchise owners discussed the benefits of owning a Quiznos restaurant and encouraged interested people to attend informational meetings at local hotels. Ice cream chain Carvel also uses infomercials to reach potential franchisees. The results are measurable: "We can push a button to see what commercial ran, how many responses it got, how much revenue it generated if it was selling something, and what the net [return on investment] was," says an executive of the direct-response firm that created the campaign. The results are also impressive: "We got easily four times the normal response than with standard media," says a Carvel marketer. So, direct-response N ads are no longer just the province of Ron Popeil and his Veg-o-Matics, food dehydrators, and electric egg scramblers. Although Popeil and his imitators paved the way, their success now has mainstream marketers tuning in to direct-response

revenues in return. What does the future hold N industry? Wait, there's more! Sources: Thomas Mucha, "Stronger Sales in J u 2.0, June 2005, pp. 56-60; Jack Neff, "Direct Response Ge

Respect," Advert~singAge, January 20, 2003, p. 4; Kristi Arellano "Quiznos'Success Not without Problems," Knight Ridde Business News, June 19, 2005, p. I; Peter Latterrnan, "So Suzanne Sorners," Forbes, July 4, 2005, p. 60; Victor Grillo All Brands," Mediaweek, July 11, 2005, p. 14; Gregg Cebrz "Cawel Joins 'Slicers and Dicers' with Direct-Response Ads Restaurant News, February 13,2006,p. 14; Jack Neff, "What Procter & Gamble Learned from Veg-0-Matic,"Advertising Age, April 10, 2006, pp. 1, 65; and Direct Marketing Association, "The DMA 2006 Statistical Fact Book," June 2006, pp. 249-250.

Despite their lowbrow images, home shopping channels have evolved into highly sophisticated, very successful marketing operations. Consider QVC: Wired magazine once described QVC as a place appealing to "trailer-park housewives frantically phoning for another ceramic clown." But look past QVC's reputation and you'll find it is one of the world's most successful and innovative retailers. Last year, the company rang up $5.7 billion in sales and $760 million in operating profit, making it nearly as big and roughly twice as profitable as Amazon.com. Although QVC sells no advertising, it's the third-largest U.S. broadcaster in terms of revenue (behind NBC and ABC),'and its sales and profits are larger than those of all other TV-based retailers combined. Remarkably, thanks to shrewd coordination with TV programming that drives buyers online, the company's Web site, QVC.com, is now the nation's sixth-largest general merchandise Internet retailer. Moreover, QVC isn't just a place where littleknown marketers hawk trinkets and trash at bare-bones prices. Prominent manufacturers such as Estee Lauder, Nextel, and Tourneau now sell through QVC. The network's $80 million single-day sales record happened on Dec. 2,2001, when Dell sold $65 million worth of PCs in 24 hours. (One month later, Michael Dell went on QVC, doing $48,000 in sales every minute he chatted on air.) Even high-fashion designers such as John Bartlett and Marc Bauer now sell lines on QVC. QVC has honed the art and science of TV retailing. Its producers react in real time, adjusting offers, camera angles, lighting, and dialogue to maximize sales and profits. QVC has become the gold standard of "retailtainment'l-the blending of retailing and entertainment. QVC folks call it @ QVC is more than just a place where little-known sellers hawk trinkets and trash the "backyard fence" sell-the feeling at bare-bones prices. Behind the cameras, it's a sophisticated marketer with sales that the merchants are neighbors visitand profits Larger than all other TV-based retailers combined. ing from next door. But according to

Chapter 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

49 1

QVC's president for U.S. commerce, "we aren't really in the business of selling." Instead, QVC uses products to build relationships with customers.21

Kiosk PqXarketilag

k$

ju, iLL, ($.&, :a hb.,'cfi ~l, -.----- , ---- .. . - _ - - . .-.-.. related to the Super Bowl (as in "Super Bowl ad"). ~ h & e terms generaied Ell Search-related ads account for some 41 percent of all online advertising more than 3.5 million online impresexpenditures: Honda used key word searches to Lure Web surfers to a site promoting sions from just Yahoo! and Google on its Element truck. The site features the vehicle "talking" to sundry animals-a the day after the Super Bowl alone.50 platypus, a possum, a burro, and a crab-in cartoony spots.

-

-

Pr1v.y

0.1

:

LeQalRrmr m d Cnnd bonr

w t l d hen& wrn

Other forms of online promotions include content sponsorships, alliances and affiliate programs, and viral advertising. -=-~ s i n content g sponsorships, companies gain name exposure on the Internet by sponsoring special content on various Web sites, such as news or financial information or special-interest topics. For example, Scotts, the lawn-and-garden products company, sponsors the Local Forecast section on WeatherChannel.com; and David Sunflower Seeds sponsors the ESPN Fantasy Baseball site at ESPN.com. Sponsorships are best placed in carefdly targeted sites where they can offer relevant information or service to the audience. Internet companies can also d e v e l o p ~ ~ ~and c e aifiliate s programs, in which they work with other companies, online and offline, to "promote each other." Arnazofi.com has more than

502

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Part 3

900,000 a•’EjJiates who post Amazon.com banners on their Web sites. And Yahoo!, whose ad revenue makes up 84 percent of its total worldwide revenue, has become a fertile ground for alliances with movie studios and TV production companies:

In one episode of The Apprentice, teams created and marketed a new flavor of Ciao Bella Ice Cream. Although Ciao Bella had previously sold its ice creams in only 18 stores in the New York and San Francisco, Yahoo! convinced the manufacturer to place the new product in 760 stores around the country. An endof-episode promotion urged viewers to visit yahoo!'^ local online search engine to look for the store nearest them. The product sold out by 5 P.M. the next day. And thanks to yahoo!'^ registration database, it was able to provide Ciao Bella with the demogra hic characteristics of respondent^.^^

_

Viral marketing .-_---_a-eJnt'er_netvecsion of ~or;- of-mouth marketing-Web e-mail messages, o i . sites, . other marketing events that' --are& infectious that. customers will want to pas_s . them-along to friends.

-_

-

z

A i

*__

-.

Web communities Web sites upon which members can congregate online and exchange views on issues of common interest.

v&

P

&r'$d~/-

Finally, online marketers use viral markxng, the Internet version of word-of-mouth marketing. Viral marketing i n v o l v e s ~ ~ a t i nagWeb site, e-mail .message, or other marketing eyent that is so infectious that customers will want to pass it along to thei&iends. ~ e c a u z e customers pass the message or promotion along to others, viral marketing can b6 very inexpensive. And when the information comes from a friend, the recipient is much more likely to open and read it. Consider Burger King's now-classic Subservient Chicken viral campaign: The Web site, www.subservientchicken.com, features a dingy living room, where the subservient chicken-someone in a giant chicken suit and a garter belt-hangs out in front of his Web cam and awaits your bidding. Type in commands, and the chicken does exactly what you ask. It will flap its wings, roll over, or jump up and down. It will also moon the viewer, dance the Electric Slide, or die. (Suggestionsfor lewd acts are met with a "naughty naughty" shake of the wing.) In other words, you can have your way with the chicken. Get it? Have it your way! The site promotes Burger King's Tendercrisp chicken and ties it into Burger King's successful "Have It Your Way" marketing campaign. "As viral marketing goes, subservientchicken.com is a colossal success," says an advertising expert. "There is great overlap between Web regulars and Burger King's core audience." If nothing more, the site gets consumers to interact with the brand. And it gets them buzzing about Burger King's edgy new positioning. Burger King has never advertised the site. When it was first created, the developer at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), the ad agency that created the site, e-mailed the URL to several other CP+B people, asking them to send the link out to friends to test. From that single e-mail, without a peep of promotion, the Subservient Chicken site ended the day with 1 million total hits. It received 46 million hits in only the first week following its launch, 385 million in the first nine months. Says one Burger King ad director, the award-winning site helped "sell a lot, a lot, a lot of chicken sa~dwiches."~~ Although online advertising still accounts for only a minor portion of the total advertising and marketing expenditures of most companies, it is growing rapidly. Online advertising serves a useful purpose, especially as a supplement to other marketing efforts. As a result, it is playing an increasingly import&t role in themarketing mixes of many advertisers. For example, although Procter & Gamble spends only a small portion of its ad media budget online, it views the Web as an important medium. According to a P&G marketer, online marketing is "a permission-based way to offer consumers more information about a product than can be shared in a typical 30-second spot. It opens a two-way exchange where we can better educate consumers about our products."53

Viral marketing: Burger King's coiossally successful Subservient Chicken site gets consumers interacting with the brand and buzzing about its edgy new positioning.

3!!

The popularity of blogs and other Web forums has resulted in a rash of commercially sponsored Web sites called Webcommunities,which take advantage of the C2C properties of the Internet. Such s i t e s - a l l a e r s to congregate online and exchange views on issues of common interest. They are the cyberspace equivalent to a Starbucks coffeehouse, a place where everybody knows your e-mail address. For example, iVillage.com is a Web community in which women can exchange views and obtain information, support, and solutions on families, food, fitness, relationships, relaxation, home and garden, news and issues, or just about any other topic.

Chapter 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

503

The site draws more than 25 million unique visitors each quarter, putting it in a league with magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Vogue. Another example is MyFamily.com, which aspires to be the largest and most active online community in the world for families. It provides free, private family Web sites upon which family members can connect online to hold family discussions, share family news, create online family photo albums, maintain a calendar of family events, jointly build family trees, and buy gifts for family members quickly and easily.54 Visitors to these Internet neighborhoods develop a strong sense of community. Such communities are attractive to advertisers because they draw frequent, lengthy visits from consumers with common interests and well-defined demographics. For example, iVillage.com provides an ideal environment for the Web ads of companies such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Nabisco, Avon, Clairol, Hallmark, and others who target women consumers. And MyFamily.com hosts The Shops@MyFamily, in which such companies as Disney, Kodak, Hallmark, HewlettPackard, and Microsoft advertise and sell their familyoriented products.

-u sing E-&X& E-mail has exploded onto the scene as an important online marketing tool. A recent study of ad, brand, and marketing managers found that nearly half of all the B2B and B2C companies surveyed use e-mail marketing to reach customers. Companies currently spend about $1.1 billion a year on e-mail marketing, up from just $164 million in 1999. And this spending will grow by E3l Web communities: iVillage.com, a Web community for women, provides an estimated 20 percent annually through 2009. Total an ideal environment for Web ads of companies such as Procter & Gamble, annual e-mail volume in the United States is expected Kimberly Clark, Avon, Hallmark, and others. to rise to almost 2.7 trillion messages in 2 0 0 7 . ~ ~ To compete effectively in this ever-more-cluttered e-mail environment, marketers are designing "enriched" e-mail messages-animated, interactive, and personalized messages full of streaming audio and video. Then, they are targeting these attention-grabbers more carefully to those who want them and will act upon them. Consider Nintendo, a natural for e-mail-based marketing: Young computer-savvy gaming fans actually look forward to Nintendo's monthly email newsletter for gaming tips and for announcements of exciting new games. When the company launched its Star Fox Adventure game, it created an intensive e-mail campaign in the weeks before and after the product launch. The campaign included a variety of messages targeting potential customers. "Each message has a different look and feel, and . . . that builds excitement for Nintendo," notes an executive working on the account. The response? More than a third of all recipients opened the e-mails. And they did more than just glance at the messages: Click-through rates averaged more than 10 percent. Nearly two-thirds of those opening the message watched its 30-second streaming video i n its entirety. Nintendo also gathered insightful customer data from the 20 percent of people who completed an embedded survey. Although the company feared that the barrage of messages might create "list fatigue" and irritate customers, the campaign received very few negative responses. The unsubscribe rate was under 1 percent.56

Span Unsolicited, unwanted mnmercial e-mail messages.

As with other types of online marketing, companies must be careful that they don't e-mail." --The cause resentment among Internet users who are already overloaded with "junk .e ~ p l o ' s 1 ' 6 ~ ~ ~ r n - - u n s o l i c i unwanted ted, commercial e-mail messages that cloT7p our e-mail boxes-h%produced consumer frustration and anger. According to one research company, spam accounts for as much as 84 percent of total inbound e-mai1.57E-mail marketers

504

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

E-mail is one hot marketing medium. In mindboggling numbers, e-mail ads are popping onto our computer screens and filling up our e-mail boxes. And they're no longer just the quiet, plain-text messages of old. The new breed of in-your-face e-mail ad is designed to command your attentionloaded with glitzy features such as animation, interactive links, color photos, streaming video, and personalized audio messages. But there's a dark side to the exploding use of e-mail marketing. The biggest problem? Spam-the deluge of unsolicited, unwanted commercial messages that now clutter up our e-mail boxes and our lives. Various studies show that spam now accounts for an inboxclogging 60 to 83 percent of e-mails sent daily throughout the world, up from only 7 percent in 2002. One recent study found that the average consumer received 3,253 spam messages last year. Despite these dismal statistics, when used properly, e-mail can be the ultimate direct marketing medium. Blue-chip marketers such as Amazon.com, Dell, L.L.Bean, Office Depot, and others use it regularly, and with great success. E-mail lets these marketers send highly targeted, tightly personalized, relationship-building messages to consumers who actually want to receive them, at a cost of only a few cents per contact. E-mail ads really can command attention and get customers to act.'According to one estimate, well-designed e-mail campaigns sent to internal customer lists typically achieve 10 to 20 percent click-through rates. That's pretty good when compared with the 1to 2 percent average response rates for traditional direct mail and the less than 1 percent response to traditional banner ads. However, although carefully designed e-mails may be effective; and may even be welcomed by selected consumers, critics argue that most commercial e-mail messages amount to little more than annoying "junk mail" to the rest of us. Too many bulk e-mailers blast out lowest-common-denominator mailings to anyone with an e-mail address. There is no customization-no relationship building. Everyone gets the same hyperventilated messages. Moreover, too often, the spam comes from shady sources and pitches objectionable products-everything from Viagra and body-enhancement products to pornography and questionable investments. And the messages are often sent from less-than-reputable marketers. At least in part, it's e-mail economics that are to blame for our overflowing inboxes. Sending e-mail is so easy and so inexpensive

that almost anyone can afford to do it, even at paltry response rates. "In the field of direct marketing, it doesn't get much cheaper than spam," says one analyst. "One needs only a credit card (to buy lists of e-mail addresses), a computer, and an Internet connection. Otherwise, it costs nothing to send bulk e-mail, even masses of it." For example, Touch Media Group once pumped out eight million emails a day. That makes the company sound like a big-city direct marketing behemoth. But in reality, it began as a home-based business run by a 44-year-old mother, Laura Betterly, in Dunedin, Florida, dubbed the Spam Queen by the Wall Street Journal. Betterly regularly dispatched messages to half a million or more strangers with a single click on the "send" icon. She found that she could make a profit on even very low responses. For example, if only 65 of the half million recipients responded, Betterly's company made $40. In all, Betterly cleared more than $200,000 a year in income from her small business. The problem, of course, is that it was far easier for Betterly to hit the "send" button on an e-mail to a million and a half strangers than it was for the beleaguered recipients to hit the delete key on all those messages. One analyst calculated that the recipient cost of Betterly's e-mails far exceeded the $40 in revenue that it produced for her. Assume that the average time getting rid of the junk was two seconds, and that the average recipient values his or her time at the mean wage paid in the United States, which is around $14 per hour, or $0.0039 per second. This implies a total cost, incurred by uninterested recipients, of 500,000 times two seconds times $0.0039 per second, which gives $3,900. And such dollar calculations don't begin to account for the shear frustration of having to deal with all those many junk messages. The impact of spam on consumers and businesses is alarming. One recent study places the average time spent at work each day deleting spam at 2.8 minutes. This loss in productivity equals $21.6 billion per year based on average U.S. wages. In response to such costs and frustrations, lnternet service providers and Web-browser producers have created sophisticated spam filters. For example, AOL now blocks some 1.5 billion spam messages a day, more than half a trillion a year, from reaching the e-mail boxes of AOL subscribers. It's blocking eight out of every ten attempted e-mails as spam. The government is also stepping in. In

w a l k a f i n e l i n e b e t w e e n a d d i n g value for consumers a n d b e i n g i n t r u s i v e (see Real Marketing 17.2). To a v o i d i r r i t a t i n g consumers b y sending u n w a n t e d m a r k e t i n g e-mail, companies s h o u l d ask customers for* permission. to e-mail marketing pitches. They s h o u l d also t e l l recipients h o w t o "opt in" or "opt out" o f e-mail promotions at any time. T h i s approach, k n o w n as permission-based mai-keting, has become a standard m o d e l for e-mail marketing.

O n l i n e marketing continues t o offer b o t h great promise a n d m a n y challenges for the future. I t s most ardent apostles s t i l l envision a t i m e w h e n the Internet a n d online marketing w i l l replace magazines, newspapers, a n d even stores as sources for i n f o r m a t i o n a n d buying. M o s t marketers, however, h o l d a m o r e realistic view. To b e sure, o n l i n e marketing w i l l become a successful business m o d e l for some companies, I n t e r n e t f i r m s s u c h as Amazon.com, eBay, a n d Google, a n d direct-marketing companies s u c h as Dell. M i c h a e l Dell's goal i s one day "to have a l l customers conduct a l l transactions o n the Internet, glob-

Chapter 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

2003, Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act (the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act), which attempts to clean u p the e-mail industry by

505

'

1 '

AOL's Advanced Spam Filter

received last year dropped by 17 percent over the previous year. However, most of us still get a barrage of e-mail come-ons each day. Most legitimate e-mail marketers welcome such controls. Left unchecked, they reason, spam will make legitimate e-mail marketing less effective, or even impossible. But the industry worries that solutions such as spam filters and the CAN-SPAM Act often filter out the good emails with the bad, dampening the rich potential of e-mail for companies that want to use it as a valid marketing tool. In fact, according to one study, as much as 20 percent of legitimate bulk In response to the spam epidemic, Internet service providers such as AOL have created commercial e-mail-which includes online statesophisticated spam filters. ments and receipts as well as mail that users sign up to receive---gets caught in spam filters. So, what's a marketer to do? Permission-based e-mail is the best keting and spam. Companies that cross the line will quickly learn that solution. Companies can send e-mails only to customers who "opt "opting out" is only a click away for disgruntled consumers. inn-those who grant permission in advance. They can let consumers specify what types of messages they'd like to receive. Sources: Quotesand other information from Jennifer Drumluk and Joe Financial services firms such as Charles Schwab use configurable Tyler, "Crackingthe E-Mail Marketing Code,"Association Management, e-mail systems that let customers choose what they want to get. March 2005, pp. 52-56; Matt Haig and Mylene Mangalindan, "Spam Others, such as Yahoo! or Amazon.com, include long lists of opt-in Queen:For Bulk E-Mailer, Pestering Millions Offers Path to Profit," Wall boxes for different categories of marketing material. Amazon.com tar- Street Journal, November 13, 2002, p. A l ; Jennifer Wolcott, "You Call It gets opt-in customers with a limited number of helpful "we thought Spam, They Call It a Living," Christian Science Monitor, March 22, 2004, you'd like to know" messages based on their expressed preferences p. 12; "AOL Top-10 List Reveals Sparnmers Are Getting More and previous purchases. Few customers object and many actuatly Sophisticated," Wireless News, December 29, 2005, p. 1; Enid Burns, welcome such promotional messages. "The Deadly Duo: Spam and Viruses," March 2006, accessed at Permission-based marketing ensures that e-mails are sent only to www.clickz.com;and Jessica E. Vascellaro, "Spam Filters Wild; Spate of customers who want them. Still, marketers must be careful not to Incidents at Verizon, AOL Point to Growing Problem of Blocking abuse the privilege. There's a fine line between legitimate e-mail mar- Legitimate E-Mail," Wall StreetJournal, May 3, 2006, p. D l .

ally." However, for most companies, online marketing will remain just one important approach to the marketplace that works alongside other approaches in a fully integrated marketing mix. Despite the many challenges, companies large and small are quickly integrating online marketing into their marketing strategies and mixes. As it continues to grow, online marketing will prove to be a powerful direct marketing tool for building customer relationships, improving sales, communicating company and product information, and delivering products and services more efficiently and effectively.

Too often, a company's different direct-marketing efforts are not well integrated with one another or with other elements of its marketing and promotion mixes. For example, a firm's media advertising may be handled by the advertising department working with a traditional

506

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

Integrated direct marketing - Direct-marketing campaigns --.-.that-use multiple vehicles an{ ,multiple stages to improvee rates and profits." ,'.response -

-.-a-r---

-=

a

:

advertising agency. Meanwhile, its direct-mail and catalog business may be handled by directmarketing specialists, whereas its Web site is developed and operated by an outside Internet firm. Even within a given direct-marketing campaign, too many companies use only a "one-shot" effortto reach and sell a prospect or a single vehicle in multiple stages to trigger purchases. A more powerful approach is @tegr,ated-dirgct marketing, which involves using carefully coordinated multiple-media, multiple-stage campaigns. Such campaigns can greatly improve response. Whereas a direct-mail piece alone might generate a 2 percent response, adding a Web site and toll-free phone number might raise the response rate by 50 percent. Then, a welldesigned outbound e-mail campaign might lift response by an additional 500 percent. Suddenly, a 2 percent response has grown to 15 percent or more by adding interactive marketing channels to a regular mailing. Integrating direct marketing channels with each other and with other media has become a top priority for marketers. For example, consider the integrated direct marketing efforts of professional services firm Ernst & Young: Ernst & Young is taking a decidedly integrated approach with its online, e-mail, and other direct marketing. It integrates its e-mail efforts with other media, including direct mail, and tightly weaves both into interactive elements on the company's site. For example, a promotion for an annual conference it hosted in October for energy executives began much earlier in the year with a "save the date" e-mail to clients and prospects. That was followed up by a rich media e-mail. "We created these flash movies that we e-mailed them, and the call to action was embedded there," says an Ernst & Young marketing executive. "There was a link built in that brought them to the Web site to find out details about the conference." Next, to reinforce the online messages, the company sent out direct-mail invitations, which included a registration form as well as the Web address for those who chose to register online. To ensure that Ernst & Young's direct marketing messages are well integrated, representatives from each marketing discipline meet on a regular basis. "We all sit around the table and talk about what we've done, what's in process, and what we're planning," says the marketing executive. "The results rely on 'the whole thing.' Otherwise, it's like making a cake without putting in the f10u.r."~~

Direct marketers and their customers usually enjoy mutually rewarding relationships. Occasionally, however, a darker side emerges. The aggressive and sometimes shady tactics of a few direct marketers can bother or harm consumers, giving the entire industry a black eye. Abuses range from simple excesses that irritate consumers to instances of unfair practices or even outright deception and fraud. The direct marketing industry has also faced growing invasion-of-privacy concerns, and online marketers must deal with Internet security issues.

Irritation, Unfairness, eeeption, and Fraud i

Direct-marketing excesses sometimes annoy or offend consumers. Most of us dislike directresponse TV conunercials that are too loud, too long, and top-bsisten:. Our mailboxes fill up with unwanted junk mail! our e-mail boxes fill up with unwanted spam, and our computer screens fill up with ~ ~ ~ a n t or epop-under d ~ ~ads:o ~ ~ ~ ~ Beyond irritating consumers, someadirect marketers have been accused of taking unfair advantage of impulsive or less-sophisticated buyers. TV shopping channels and program-long "infomercials" targeting television-addicted shoppers seem to be the worst culprits. They feature smooth-talking hosts, elaborately staged demonstrations, claims of drastic price reductions, "while they last" time limitations, and unequaled ease of purchase to inflame buyers who have low sales resistance. Worse yet, so-called heat merchants design mailers and write copy intended to mislead buyers. Even well-known direct mailers have been accused of deceiving consumers. A few years back, sweepstakes promoter Publishers Clearing House paid $52 million to settle accusations that its high-pressure mailings confused or misled consumers, especially the elderly, into believing that they had won prizes or would win if they bought the company's magazines.59 Fraudulent schemes, such as investment scams or phony collections for charity, have also has become multiplied in recent years. Internetfiaud, including identity fhe$ and nancial scams, -----

__--.7

-7

Chapter 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

507

a serious problem. Internet-related complaints accounted for 46 percent of the 431,000 fraud cornplaints received by the FTC last year, resulting in monetary losses of more than $335 million. ~ n d last year alone, the Federal Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received almost 232,000 complaints related to Internet fraud, a whopping 368 percent increase from 2 0 0 2 . ~ ~ One common form of Internet fraud issphjsh&g, a type of identity theft that-uses decxp: tive e-mails and fraudulent Web sites to fool user_s into divu1gin.g their2gersonal-d?ta, According to one survey, half of all Internet users have received d'a phishing e-mail. Although many consumers are now aware of such schemes, phishing can be extremely costly to those caught i n the Net. It also damages the brand identities of legitimate online marketers who have worked to build user confidence in Web and e-mail transaction^.^^ Many consumers also worry about online sequzz. They fear that unscrupulous snoopers will eavesdrop on their online transactions or intercept.&eirXcr_editcard n-m.keg_-.i-ma$te unauthorized purchases. In a recent survey, six out of ten online shoppers were concerned enough about online s'ecurity that they considered reducing the amount of their online holiday shopping." Such concerns are costly for direct-marketing companies. A recent study indicated that almost 30 percent of North American consumers who have been online but haven't made a purchase cited concerns about credit card fraud and other factors as holding them back. Another study predicts that annual online sales could be as much as 25 percent higher if consumers' security concerns were adequately addressed.63 Another Internet marketing concern is that oLaccgss by vulnerable or unauthorized .groups, For example, marketers of adult-oriented materials have found it difficult to restricf access by minors. In a more specific example, a while back, sellers using eBay found themselves the victims of a 14-year-old boy who'd bid on and purchased more than $3 million worth of high-priced antiques and rare artworks on the site. eBay has a strict policy against bidding by anyone under age 18 but works largely on the honor system. Unfortunately, this honor system did little to prevent the teenager from taking a cyberspace joyride.64

Invasion of privacy is perhaps the toughest public policy issue now confronting the directmarketing industry. Consumers often benefit from database marketing-they receive more offers that are closely matched to their interests. However, many critics worry that marketers may know too much about consumers' lives +andthat they may use this knowledge to take unfairadvantage of consumers. At some point, they claim, the extensive use of databases intrudes on consumer privacy. These days, it seems that almost every time consumers enter a sweepstakes, apply for a credit card, visit a Web site, or order products by mail, telephone, or the Internet, their names enter some company's already bulging database. Using sophisticated computer technologies, direct marketers can use these databases to "microtarget" their selling efforts. Online privacy causes special concerns. Most online marketers have become skilled at collecting and analyzing detailed consumer information. Some consumers and policy makers worry that the ready availability of information may leave consumers open to abuse if companies make unauthorized use of the information in marketing their products or exchanging databases with other companies. For example, they ask, should AT&Tbe allowed to sell marketers the names of customers who frequently call the 800 numbers of catalog companies? Should a company such as American Express be allowed to make data on its millions of cardholders worldwide available to merchants who accept AmEx cards? Is it right for credit bureaus to compile and sell lists of people who have recently applied for credit cards-people who are considered prime direct-marketing targets because of their spending behavior? Or is it right for states to sell the names and addresses of driver's license holders, along with height, weight, and gender information, allowing apparel retailers to target tall or overweight people with special clothing offers? In their drives to build databases, companies sometimes get carried away. For example, Microsoft caused substantial privacy concerns when one version of its Windows ~ ~ f t ~ a r e used a "Registration Wizard" that snooped into users' computers. When users went online to register, without their knowledge, Microsoft "read" the configurations of their PCS to k a r n about the major software products they were running. Users ~rotestedloudly and ~ i c r o s o f t abandoned the practice. These days, it's not only the large companies that can access such private information. The explosion of information technology has put these capabilities into the hands almost any business. For example, one bar owner discovered the power of information t e c h n o l ~ gafter ~ he acquired a simple, inexpensive device to check IDS.

508

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

About 10,000 people a week go to The Rack, a bar in Boston. . . . One by one, they hand over their driver's licenses to a doorman, who swipes them through a sleek black machine. If a license is valid and its holder is over 21, a red light blinks and the patron is waved through. But most of the customers are not aware that it also pulls up the name, address, birth date, and other personal details from a data strip on the back of the license. Even height, eye color, and sometimes Social Security number are registered. "You swipe the license, and all of a sudden someone's whole life as we know it pops up in front of you," said Paul Barclay, the bar's owner. "It's almost voveuristic." El Privacy: The explosion of information technology has put sometimes frightening Mr. Barclay soon found that he could capabilities into the hands of almost any business. One bar owner discovered the power build a database of personal informaof information technology after he acquired a simple, inexpensive device to check IDS. tion, providing an intimate perspective on his clientele that can be useful i n marketing. Now, for any given night or hour, he can break down his clientele by sex, age, zip code, or other characteristics. If he wanted to, he could find out how many blond women named Karen over 5 feet 2 inches came in over a weekend, or how many of his customers have the middle initial M. More practically, he can build mailing lists based on all that data-and keep track of who comes back.65

All of this calls for strong actions by marketersto_cu+_prFacy abuses before legislators step in to do it for them. For example, in response to online privacy ahd security concerns, the federal government has considered numerous legislative actions to regulate how Web operators obtain and use consumer information. State governments are also stepping in. In 2003, California enacted the California Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA), under which any online business that collects personally identifiable information from California residents must take steps such as posting its privacy policy and notifying consumers about what data will be gathered and how it will be used.66 Of special concern are ,the privacy fights p_f-&ildr= In 1998, the Federal Trade Commission surveyed 212 Web sites directed toward children. It found that 89 percent of the sites collected personal information from children. However, 46 percent of them did not include any disclosure of their collection and use of such information. As a result, Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA),which requires Web site operators targeting children to post privacy policies on their sites. They must also notify parents about the information they're gathexing and obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under the age of 13. Under this act, Interstate Bakeries was recently required to rework its Planet Twinkie Web site after the Children's Advertising Review Unit found that the site allowed children under 13 to submit their full name and phone number without parental consent.67 Many companies have responded to consumer privacy and security concerns with actions of their own. Still others are taking an industrywide approach. For example, TRUSTe, a nonprofit self-regulatory organization, works with many large corporate sponsors, including Microsoft, AT&T,and Intuit, to audit companies' privacy and security measures and help consumers navigate the Web safely. According to the company's Web site, "TRUSTe believes that an environment of mutual trust and openness will help make and keep the Internet a free, comfortable, and richly diverse community for everyone." To reassure consumers, the company lends it "trustmark" stamp of approval to Web sites that meet its privacy and security standards.68 The direct-marketing industry as a whole is also addressing public policy issues. For example, in an effort to build consumer confidence in shopping direct, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA)-the largest association for businesses practicing direct, database, and interactive marketing, with more than 4,800 member companies-launched a "Privacy

Chapter 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

509

P r o m i s e t o A m e r i c a n Consumers." T h e P r i v a c y P r o m i s e r e q u i r e s t h a t a l l DMA m e m b e r s adhere t o a carefully d e v e l o p e d set o f consumer p r i v a c y rules. M e m b e r s m u s t agree t o n o t i f y customers w h e n any p e r s o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n i s rented, sold, o r exchanged with others. T h e y m u s t also h o n o r c o n s u m e r requests t o " o p t o u t " o f r e c e i v i n g f u r t h e r solicitations o r h a v i n g t h e i r c o n t a c t i n f o r m a t i o n t r a n s f e r r e d t o o t h e r marketers. F i n a l l y , t h e y m u s t a b i d e by t h e D M A ' s Preference Service by r e m o v i n g t h e names o f consumers w h o w i s h n o t t o receive m a i l , telephone, o r e - m a i l offers.6g D i r e c t marketers k n o w that, l e f t untended, s u c h problems will l e a d t o increasingly negative consumer attitudes, l o w e r response rates, and calls for m o r e restrictive state and federal legislation. "Privacy and customer p e r m i s s i o n have become t h e cornerstones o f customer trust, [and] t r u s t has become t h e cornerstone t o a c o n t i n u i n g relationship," says o n e expert. Companies m u s t "become t h e custodians o f customer t r u s t and protect t h e p r i v a c y o f t h e i r customer^."^^ M o s t d i r e c t m a r k e t e r s w a n t t h e same t h i n g s t h a t c o n s u m e r s w a n t : h o n e s ~ .% & w e l l --designed m a r k e t i n g offers targeted o n l y t o w a r d consumers w h o will appreciate a n d r e s p o n d t o them. D i r e c t m a r k e t i n g i s j u s t t o o expensive t o waste o n consumers w h o d o n ' t want it.

Let's revisit this chapter's key concepts. This chapter is the last of four chapters covering.the final marketing mix element-promotion. The previous chapters dealt with advertising, publicity, sales promotion, and personal selling. This one investigates direct and online marketing. 1. Define direct marketing and discuss its benefits to customers and companies. Direct marketing consists of direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivate lasting customer relationships. Using detailed databases, direct marketers tailor their offers and communications to the needs of narrowly defined segments or even individual buyers. For buyers, direct marketing is convenient, easy to use, and private. It gives buyers ready access to a wealth of products and information, at home and around the globe. Direct marketing is also immediate and interactive, allowing buyers to create exactly the configuration of information, products, or services they desire, then order them on the spot. For sellers, direct marketing is a powerful tool for building customer relationships. Using database marketing, today's marketers can target small groups or individual consumers, tailor offers to individual needs, and promote these offers through personalized communications. It also offers them a low-cost, efficient alternative for reaching their markets. As a result of these advantages to both buyers and sellers, direct marketing has become the fastestgrowing form of marketing. 2. identify and discuss the major forms of direct marketing. The main forms of direct marketing include personal selling, directmail marketing, catalog marketing, telephone marketing, directresponse television marketing, kiosk marketing, and online marketing. We discussed personal selling in the previous chapter. Direct-mail marketing, the largest form of direct marketing, consists of the company sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item to a person at a specific address. Recently, new forms of "mail delivery" have become popular, such as e-mail marketing. Some marketers rely on catalog marketing-selling through catalogs mailed to a select list of customers, made available in stores, or accessed on the Web. Telephone marketing consists of using the telephone to sell directly to consumers. Direct-response television marketing has two forms: direct-respqnse advertising (or infomercials) and home shopping channels. Kiosks are information and ordering machines that direct marketers place in stores, airports, and other locations. In recent years, a number.of new digital direct marketing

technologies have emerged, including mobile phone marketing, podcasts and vodcasts, and interactive TV. Online marketing involves online channels that digitally link sellers with consumers.

3. Explain how companies have responded to the lnternet and other powerful new technologies with online marketing. Online marketing is the fastest-growing form of direct marketing. The lnternet enables consumers and companies to access and share huge amounts of information with just a few mouse clicks. turn, the lnternet has given marketers a whole new way to create value for customers and build customer relationships. It's hard to find a company today that doesn't have a substantial Web marketing presence. Online consumer buying continues to grow at a healthy rate. Some 65 percent of American online users now use the lnternet to shop. Perhaps more importantly, by 2010, the lnternet will influence a staggering 50 percent of total retail sales. Thus, smart marketers are employing integrated multichannel strategies that use the Web to drive sales to other marketing channels. 4' Discuss how companies go about conducting online marketing to profitably deliver more value to customers. Companies of all types are now engaged in online marketing. The lnternet gave birth to the click-only dot-corns, which operate only online. In addition, many traditional brick-and-mortarcompanies have now added online marketing operations, transformingthemselves into click-andmortar competitors. Many click-and-mortar companies are now having more online success than their click-only competitors. Companies can conduct online marketing in any of the four ways: creating a Web site, placing ads and promotions online, setting up or participating in Web communities, or using online e-mail. The first step typically is to set up a Web site. Beyond simply setting up a site, however, companies must make their sites engaging, easy to use, and useful in order to attract visitors, hold them, and bring them back again. Online marketers can use various forms of online advertising to build their lnternet brands or to attract visitors to their Web sites. Beyond online advertising, other forms of online promotion include online display advertising, search-related advertising, content sponsorships, alliances and affiliate programs, and viral marketing, the lnternet version of wordof-mouth marketing. Online marketers can also participate in Web Cornmunities, which take advantage of the C2C properties of the Web. Finally, e-mail marketing has become a fast-growing tool for both B2C and B2B marketers. Whatever direct marketing tools they use, marketers must work hard to integrate them into a cohesive marketingeffo*.

510

Part 3

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

5. Overview the public policy and ethical issues presented by direct marketing. Direct marketers and their customers usually enjoy mutually rewarding relationships. Occasionally, however, direct marketing presents a darker side. The aggressive and sometimes shady tactics of a few direct marketers can bother or harm consumers, giving the entire industry a black eye. Abuses range from simple excesses that irritate consumers to instances of unfair practices or even outright deception

Business-to-business (B2B) online marketing 495 Business-to-consumer (B2C) online marketing 494 Catalog marketing 485 Click-and-mortar companies 497

Click-only companies 497 Consumer-to-business (C2B) online marketing 496 Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online marketing 495 Corporate Web site 499 Customer database 483

1. The Internet benefits both buyers and sellers in a number of ways. Using eBay as an example, describe the potential benefits gained by both the buyer and seller. 2. A local oriental rug cleaning company has contacted you for advice on setting up its customer database. It needs this database for customer relationship management and for direct marketing of new products and services. Describe the qualities and features it must consider for an effective database.

and fraud. The direct-marketing industry has also faced growing concerns about invasion-of-privacy and internet security issues. Such concerns call for strong action by marketers and public policy makers to curb direct-marketing abuses. In the end, most direct marketers want the same things that consumers want: honest and well-designed marketing offers targeted only toward consumers who will appreciate and respond to them.

Direct-mail marketing 484 Direct marketing 480 Direct-response television marketing 488 Integrated direct marketing 506 Internet 493

Marketing Web site 499 Online advertising 500 Online marketing 493 Spam 503 Telephone marketing 487 Viral marketing 502 Web communities 502

4. What is the National Do-Not-Call Registry? Is it effective? Is there a similar legislation banning unwanted e-mails?

5. Companies design Web sites for many purposes. What are the two basic types of Web sites and what are their purposes?Give an example of each. 6. What are the basic lnternet security fears of consumers? Are these fears usually justified? Identify five actions a consumer can take to reduce the risk of Internet security problems.

3. Is it good marketing practice for a catalog mailer to continue sending catalogs after establishinga strong Web retail presence?

A small company that has developed an effective at-home haircoloring system is considering using direct television. Would you recommend this medium?Why or why not? Visit your favorite retail Web site and evaluate the site according to the seven Cs of effective Web site design.

very personal and sensitive financial information with each customer over the lnternet on a daily basis. You have been asked by your boss to come up with a security idea that will be communicated in an ad. What primary message would you like to communicate to your customers in this ad?

Assume that you are a member of a marketing department for a click-only provider of financial services. Your company exchanges

When marketers and engineers design new products, they rely heavily on input from consumers. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researchers are working on a multidisciplinary project known as the Virtual Customer Initiative. The purpose of the initiative is to improve the accuracy and usability of customer input by creating easy-to-use and effective Web-based tools. To see demonstrations of this technology, visit http:llconjoint.mit.edulnewdemol and click on the "Go" button in the box with a car, labeled "Web-Based Conjoint Analysis." Go through the entire demonstration for the crossover vehicle. The demonstrations show an application of a statistical technique called conjoint analysis. In simple terms, the objective of conjoint analysis is to determine how a consumer

makes trade-offs between different product features-to determine whether a consumer would trade, for instance, less passenger space for more cargo space. 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of running this type of analysis as a Web-based system as opposed to having subjects come to a research lab and run through the study with a researcher? 2. In addition to cars and cameras, what are some other products that would benefit from this type of Web-based analysis?

3. Why isn't this technology, and conjoint analysis in general, not more widely used?

Chapter 17 Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

522

Technoethics, a recent field of study that examines ethical issues in technology, has recently been applied to many areas in lnternet marketing. Blogs are an example of a growing lnternet marketing technology that presents many ethical issues. For instance, is it ethical for a company to ask consumers to blog favorably about a product? Is it ethical for companies to pay these consumers to blog?Should a company fire an employee who blogs negative comments about the company? Other technologies, created by leading lnternet marketers to improve customer satisfaction on the lnternet are also raising issues. Amazon.com, one of the most reputable lnternet marketers, has been criticized for its Wish List, which lets customers list books and other products they would like to receive from friends and family. It seems harmless, even helpful. But what many consumers don't know is that the Wish List can be viewed by anyone, and that such wish list information can be used to create databases of everyone from apparent liberals to gun owners to teenage girls. Take all this one step further and consider Google's online mapping capabilities. By applying this technology to the wish list information, one could find the houses of wish listers interested in books on, say, Osama bin Laden. Companies on the cutting edge of technology, such as Amazon.com, are constantly cited for having their updated technology fail on them. The

immensely popular online social network, MySpace, is currently suffering with a problem by which some users' sites have been rerouted to adultcontent sites. LucasArts updated its Star Wars Galaxies programs and accidentally made it unplayable to players with disabilities, because it could no longer be played with one hand.

Formed in 1997, NineMSN is a joint venture between Microsoft and Australia's leading media company, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL). The NineMSN site offers news and content from nine of Australia's largest media channels funneled through MSN's signature portal. Each month, more than 7.5 million people visit the NineMSN site for news, information, and communication services, including MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger. That's 74 percent of all online Australians, and the number keeps growing. NineMSN keeps users coming back by continually updating its content while maintaining a consistent, easy-to-use Web site that users can customize. Then, the portal capitalizes on its steady stream of consumers

by capturing demographic data and working with advertisers to build online marketing campaigns targeting the site's users. After watching the video featuring NineMSN, answer the following questions about direct and online marketing.

As the Rolling Stones geared up for their "A Bigger Bang" tour, Roger felt like reliving some old memories. Just because he was in his 50s didn't mean he was too old to rock. A f t e r all, he was an original Stones fan dating back to the '60s. It had been years since he had gone to a concert for any band. So on the day the Stones tickets went on sale, he grabbed a lawn chair and headed to his local Ticketmaster outlet to "camp out" in line. Roger knew that the terminal, located inside a large chain music store, wouldn't open until 10 a.m. when tickets went on sale. He got to the store at 6 a.m. to find only three people ahead of him. "Fantastic," Roger thought. With so few people in front of

him, getting good seats would be a snap. Maybe he would even score something close to the stage. By the time the three people in front of him had their tickets, it was 10:13 a.m. As the clerk typed away on the Ticketmaster computer terminal, Roger couldn't believe what he heard. No tickets were available. The show at the Forum in Los Angeles was sold out. Dejected, Roger turned to leave. As he made his way out the door, another customer said, "You can always try StubHub." As the fellow Stones fan explained what StubHub was, it occurred to Roger that the world had become a very different place with respect to buying concert tickets.

1. Is it ethical for an advertiser to pay a consumer to blog favorably about a product? To fire an employee presenting negative issues on his or her blog? 2. What can companies do to reduce the negative public relations effects of such technoethical issues? 3. What other examples have you heard or read about recently involving ethical issues with Web-based companies?

See: "The Technoethics Trap: As the Line between Right and Wrong Gets Blurrier, Even the Best Intentions Have a Way of Backfiring," Inc., March 2006, pp. 69-70.

1. How does NineMSN build and use its customer database? 2. Visit the NineMSN Web site, www.ninemsn.com.au, and evaluate the site based on the seven Cs of effective design discussed in the text.

3. What forms of online advertising and promotion do marketers use to reach NineMSN members through the Web site?

Indeed, in this Internet age, buying tickets for live events has changed dramatically since Roger's concert-going days. Originators such as Ticketmaster now sell tickets online for everything from Broadway shows to sporting events. Increasingly, however, event tickets are resold through Web sites such as eBay, Craigslist, and newcomer StubHub, the fastest-growing company in the business. According to one survey conducted at a U2 concert, 29 percent of the fans said that they had purchased their tickets from an Internet resale Web site, a statistic that reflects ticket buying industry-wide. Prices are all over the map, and tickets for sold-out shows of hot events routinely sell for double or triple their face value. In some cases, the markup is astronomical. Prices for a seat at Super Bowl XL in Detroit started at $2,000. Tickets to see Coldplay in San Jose in the spring of 2006 were going for as much as $3,000 each. And a pair of Stones tickets at New York's Madison Square Garden, close enough to see a geriatric Mick Jagger perspire, went for more than $14,000. Extreme cases? Yes, but not uncommon. When most people think of buying a ticket from a reseller, they probably envision a seedy scalper standing in the shadows near an event venue. But scalping is moving mainstream. Because the Internet and other technologies have allowed professional ticket agents to purchase event tickets in larger numbers, anyone with a computer and broadband connection can instantly become a scalper. And regular folks, even fans, are routinely doing so. "Because we allowed people to buy four [tickets],if they only need two, they put the other two up for sale," said Dave Holmes, manager for Coldplay. This dynamic, occurring for events across the board, has dramatically increased the number of ticket resellers.

STU With the ticket resale market booming, StubHub started operations in 2000 under the name Liquid Seats. It all started with an idea by two first-year students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Eric Baker and Jeff Fluhr had been observing the hysteria on the ticket resale market. In their opinion, the market was highly fragmented and rampant with fraud and distorted pricing. Two buyers sitting side-by-side at the same event might find they'd paid wildly different prices for essentially the same product. Even with heavy hitter eBay as the biggest ticket reseller at the time, Baker and Fluhr saw an opportunity to create a system that would bring buyers and sellers together in a more efficient manner. They entered their proposal in a new-business plan competition. Fluhr was utterly convinced the concept would work, so much so that he withdrew the proposal from the competition and dropped out of school in order to launch the business. At a time when dot-coms were dropping like flies, this might have seemed like a very poor decision. But Fluhr is now CEO of StubHub, the leader and fastest-growing company in a $10-billion-a-year industry. Home to 200 employees, StubHub utilizes 20,000 square feet of prime office space in San Francisco's pricey financial district, seven satellite offices, and two call centers. Even more telling is the company's financial performance. From 512

Part 3

2004 to 2005, StubHub tripled its volume to $200 million worth of tickets sold, generating about $50 million in commissions. Most of that was profit. According to cornscore Networks, a firm that tracks Web traffic, StubHub.com is the leading site among more than a dozen competitors in the ticket-resale category. Sharing his own experience, a New York Times writer provides the following description of how StubHub works: To test the system I started with the New York Yankees. A series with the Seattle Mariners was coming up, just before the Yankees left town for a long road trip. Good tickets would be scarce. I went to StubHub. Lots of tickets there, many priced stratospherically. I settled on two Main Box seats in Section 313, Row G. They were in the right-field corner, just one section above field level. The price was $35 each, or face price for a season ticket holder. This was a tremendous value for a sold-out game. I registered with StubHub, creating a user name and password, ordered the tickets, then sealed the deal by providing my credit card number. An e-mail message arrived soon after, confirming the order and informing me that StubHub was contacting the seller to arrange for shipment. My card would not be charged until the seller had confirmed to StubHub the time and method of delivery. A second e-mail message arrived a day later giving the delivery details. The tickets arrived on the Thursday before the game, and the seller was paid by StubHub on confirmation of delivery. On Saturday, under a clear, sunny sky, the Yankees were sending a steady stream of screaming line drives into the right-field corner. From the beginning, Baker and Fluhr set out to provide better options for both buyers and sellers by making StubHub different. Like eBay, StubHub has no ticket inventory of its own, reducing its risk. It simply provides the venue that gives buyers and sellers the opportunity to come together. But it's the differences, perhaps, that have allowed StubHub to achieve such success in such a short period of time. One of the first differences noticed by buyers and sellers k.StubHubJsticket-listing procedure. Sellers can list tickets by auction or at a fixed price, a price that declines as the event gets closer. Whereas eBay charges fees just to list tickets, StubHub lists them for free. Thus, initially, the seller has no risk whatsoever. eBay gets its revenue not only from listing fees, but from additional sliding-scale fees based on sale price. StubHub's system is simpler, and it splits the fee burden between buyer and seller. StubHub charges sellers a 15-percent commission and buyers a 10-percent fee. StubHub's Web site structure also creates a marketplace that comes closer to pure competition than any other reseller's Web site. It achieves this by minimizing the degree of differentiation between sellers on its site. On eBay, sellers customize their postings through a variety of details. Not only do text, graphics, and conditions of sale differ fiom seller to seller, so

Designing a Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Mix

do the sellers' "trustworthiness" ratings. But with StubHub, all sellers are equal. Each posts tickets using the same template. When buyers browse, every posting looks the same. In fact, the seller's identity isn't even included. StubHub even holds the shipping method constant, via FedEx. This makes the purchase process much more transparent for buyers. They can browse tickets by event, venue, and section. Comparison shopping is very easy, as shoppers can simultaneously view different pairs of tickets in the same section, even in the same row. Although prices still vary, this system makes tickets more of a commodity and allows market forces to narrow the gap considerably from one seller to another. In fact, although tickets often sell for high prices, this also has the effect of pushing ticket prices down below face value. Perhaps the biggest and most important difference between StubHub and competitors is the company's 100 percent guarantee. Initially, it might seem more risky buying from a seller whose identity is unknown. But StubHub puts the burden of responsibility on the seller, remaining involved after the purchase where competing sites bow out. Buyers aren't charged until they confitm receipt of the tickets. "If you open the package and it contains two squares of toilet paper instead of the tickets," Baker explains, "then we debit the seller's credit card for the amount of the purchase." StubHub will also revoke site privileges for fraudulent or unreliable sellers. In contrast, the eBay system is largely self-policing and does not monitor the shipment or verification of the purchased items.

The company now has signed agreements with numerous NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL teams to be their official secondary marketplace for season ticket holders. It has also struck deals with USC and the University of Alabama, with more collegiate teams in the pipeline. The deal with USC led directly to a new company record for a single event, the 2006 Rose Bowl between Texas and USC. Although StubHub would not disclose how many tickets it sold, the company acknowledged that it was triple the amount sold for all other 2006 college bowl games combined. Revenues from sporting events account for more than half of all StubHub sales. So it's not surprising that the company continues to pursue new partnerships with sports teams and even media organizations, such as Sporting News and CBS Sportsline. However, it has arranged similar contractual agreements with big-name performers such as Coldplay, Britney Spears, Jewel, Christina Aguilera, Alanis Morissette, and country music's newest star, Bobby Pinson. Arrangements allow StubHub to offer exclusive event packages with a portion of the proceeds supporting charities designated by the performer. The reselling of event tickets is here to stay. Although there is more than one channel to buy or sell, StubHub's future looks bright. The company's model of entering into partnerships with event-producing organizations is establishing them as "the official" ticket reseller. Thus, it is more than likely that StubHub's lead over the competition will only increase.

1. Conduct a brief analysis of the marketing environment

When StubHub was formed, it targeted primary professional ticket brokers and ordinary consumers. In examining individuals as sellers, Baker and Fluhr capitalized on the underexploited assets of sport team season ticket holders. "If you have season tickets to the Yankees, that's 81 games," Mr. Baker said. "Unless you're unemployed or especially passionate, there's no way you're going to attend every game." StubHub entered the equation, not only giving ticket holders a way to recoup some of their investment, but allowing them to have complete control over the process rather than selling to a ticket agent. It quickly became apparent to StubHub's founders that the benefits of season ticket holders selling off unused tickets extended to the sports franchises as well. Being able to sell unwanted tickets encourages season ticket holders to buy again. It also puts customers in seats that would otherwise go empty-customers who buy hot dogs, souvenirs, and programs. Thus, StubHub began entering into signed agreements with professional sports teams. The teams give official reselling rights to StubHub in exchange for a fee. Originally, this was a percentage of resale profits. But because of the multiple benefits for teams, StubHub now keeps all commissions and instead pays a straight fee to each team for promoting its Web site and providing contact information on season tickets. This change in contract details has only increased the number of partnerships between StubHub and sports teams. Chapter 17

and the forces shaping the development of StubHub. 2. Discuss StubHub's business model. What general bene-

fits does it afford to buyers and sellers? Which benefits are most important in terms of creating value for buyers and sellers? 3. Discuss StubHub as a new intermediary. What effects has this new type of intermediary had on the ticket industry? 4. Apply the text's e-marketing domains hamework to StubHub's business model. How has each domain played a role in the company's success? 5. What recornrnendations can you make for improving StubHub's future growth and success? 6. What are the legal or ethical issues, if any, for ticketreselling Web sites? Sources: William Grimes, "That Invisible Hand Guides the Game of Ticket Hunting," New York Times, June 18, 2004, p. El; Henry Fountain, "The Price of Admission in a Material World," New York Times, April 16, 2006, p. D5; Steve StecMow, "Can't Get No . . . Tickets?" Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2006, p. PI; Steve Stecklow, "StubHub's Ticket to Ride," Wall Street Journal, January 17, 2006, p. BI; Bob Tedeschi, "New Era of Ticket Resales: Online and Aboveboard," New York Times, August 29, 2005, p. C4; and information from "About Us," accessed online at www.stubhub.com, June, 2006.

Direct and Online Marketing: Building Direct Customer Relationships

513

hen you walk into a Washington Mutual branch for the first time, you'll probably do a double take. This just isn't your usual bank. There are no teller windows or desks, no velvet ropes, and no marble counters. Instead, you'll find a warm and inviting retail environment, complete with a concierge area where WaMulians (that's what employees call themselves) meet and greet customers. According to Washington Mutual, the idea is to create a place where bank customers want to go rather than have to go. "We make our financial centers inviting, not institutional," says the bank. In many respects, a Washington Mutual branch is more like a retail store than a bank. This is the bank of the future, Washington Mutual style (WaMu, to the faithful). Sales associates are dressed in Gap-like gear: blue shirts, khaki pants, and navy sweaters. But there's not a rack of cargo pants in sight, and denim shirts are in short supply. If you want a mutual fund, however, a young woman is eager to help. If it's a checking account you need, step right up to the concierge station, and a friendly young man will direct you to the right nook. If your kids get fussy while you're chatting about overdraft protection, send them over to the kids corner, called WaMu Kids, where they can amuse themselves with games, books, and other activities. The bank's look and feel are intended to put the 'retail' back in retail banking. Known internally as Occasio (Latin for "favorable opportunity"), the format grew out of 18 months of intense market research that investigated every customer touch point in a branch. One of the primary innovations of the bank's ,design is teller towers, pedestals where sales associates stand in front of screens fieldhk transactions. They handle no money. Customers who need cash (or "wamoola") are given a slip, which they take over to a cash-dispensing machine. This is central to the bank's true goal: cross-selling products by helping customers to find additional products and services they might value. Because they aren't tethered to a cash drawer, tellers who discover that a customer's kid just got into college can march that person over to an educationloan officer. Or they can steer newlyweds to the mortgage desk. This format might seem unusual for a bank, but it's working for Washington Mutual. The company's 2,600 facilities around the country pull in more than $21 billion in yearly revenues. Last year, revenues grew almost 34 percent; profits were up 19 percent. In little more than ten years, WaMu has grown from an obscure

1

r--.-.

-

.."-." --.---,

La-*"

? . -

I . . .

Northwest thrift into the nation's seventh-largest financial institution, its largest thrift bank, and its number-three mortgage lender. Washington Mutual's success has resulted from its relentless dedication to a simple competitive marketing strategy: operational excellence. Some companies, such as Ritz-Carlton hotels, create value through customer intimacy-by coddling customers and reaping high prices and margins. Others, such as Microsoft or Intel, create value though product leadership-by offering a continuous stream of leadingedge products. in contrast, Washington Mutual creates value through a Wal-Mart-like strategy of offering convenience and competitive prices. WaMu's high-tech, innovative retail stores provide customer convenience but cost much less to staff and operate than a typical bank branch. "Their inexpensive branch design allows WaMu to make use of existing retail space and keep personnel low," notes a banking analyst. Leveraging this low cost, WaMu can offer more affordable banking services, which in turn lets it profitably serve the mass market of moderate-income consumers that other banks now overlook. In fact, WaMu wants to be the Wal-Mart of the banking industry: WaMuls strategy is simple: Deliver great value and convenient service for the everyday Joe. "The blue-collar, lower white-collar end of the market is either underserved or overcharged," says one analyst who has followed WaMu for nearly two decades. The Home Depots, Targets, and Wal-Marts have built empires by focusing on those customers. Now WaMu's CEO, Kerry Killinger, aims to join their ranks. Killinger wants nothing less than to reinvent how people think about banking. "In every retailing industry there are category killers who figure out how to have a very low cost structure and pass those advantages on

516

Part 4 Extending Marketing

to customers, day in and day out, with better pricing," he says. "I think we have a shot at doing that in this segment." His goal is to have his company mentioned in the same breath as WalMart and Southwest Airlines. "[We want to1 be put into a different category, as a high-growth retailer of consumer financial services," he says, without a trace of doubt. "We'll even start losing the banking label."

,

'

I

WaMu's strategy focuses on building full customer relationships. It begins with offering what the company considers to be its core relationship products: home mortgages and free checking with no minimum balance requirement to avoid a monthly fee. Pretty soon, customers are happily hooked on WaMu's entire range of banking services. According to one account: "Checking accounts and mortgages are two of the most important products for Main Street America. WaMu can offer a package of products at a better value than you could get by offering those products independently. When you team the convenience and the price value, it's a very powerful combination for th; consumer." WaMu's cross-selling, relationship-building formula is a powerful one. Five years after starting with free checking as their initial relationship, Washington Mutual's households on average maintain more than $23,000 in deposit, investment, and home and consumer loan balances. WaMu's focus on customer relationships is a primary reason for the bank's success. But the company knows that to build strong customer relationships, it must also take good care of the employees who maintain those relationships. So WaMu has also created an exuberant corporate culture that motivates and supports the WaMulians. "I've never seen an organization that lives its culture the way this organization does," says Steve Rotella, WaMu's president and chief operating officer. ~ $ ~ l o ~ e e surveys show that "they view it as a special place and a place they want to work." All of those warm feelings translate into customer service, satisfaction, and value. Will Washington Mutual's competitive marketing strategy of bringing value and convenience to middle-Americans make it the Wal-Mart of the banking industry? WaMu is certainly well on its way. "You can have a lucky streak for a few quarters, but you can't accomplish what they've done with just a lucky streak," says an analyst. "They have good people; they have scale; they are very focused on their customers. For WaMu, the best is still to come."l

Competitive advantage ~n advantage over

competitors gained by offering consumers greater value than competitors offer.

Competitor analysis The process of identifying key competitors; assessing their objectives, strategies, strengths and weaknesses, and react~onpatterns; and selecting-which competitors to attack or avoid.

Today's companies face their toughest competition ever. In previous chapters, we argued that to succeed in today's fiercely competitive marketplace, companies will have to move from a product-and-selling philosophy to a customer-and-marketing philosophy. John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems put it well: "Make your customer the center of your culture." This chapter spells out in more detail how companies can go about outperforming competitors in order to win, keep, and grow customers. To win in today's marketplace, companies must become adept not just in mandg&gproducts, but in managing customer relationships in the face of determined competition. Understanding customers is crucial, but it's not enough. Building profitable customer relationships and gaining competitive advantage requires delivering more value and satisfaction to target consumers than competitors do. In this chapter, we examine competitive marketing strategies-how companies analyze their competitors and develop successful, value-based strategies for building and maintaining profitable customer relationships. The first step is competitor analysis, the process of identifying, assessing, and selecting key competitors. The second step is developing competitive marketing strategies that strongly position the company against competitors and give it the greatest possible competitive advantage.

Competitive marketing strategies Strategies that strongly position the company against competitors and that give the company the strongestpossible_sJrategic --advantage.

To plan effective marketing strategies, the company needs to find out all it can about its competitors. It must constantly compare its marketing strategies, products, prices, channels, and promotion with those of close competitors. In this way the company can find areas of poten-

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

Steps in analyzing competitors

tial competitive advantage and disadvantage. As shown in Figure 18.1, competitor analysis involves first identifying and assessing competitors and then selecting which competitors to attack or avoid.

Normally, identifying competitors would seem a simple task. At the narrowest level, a company can define its competitors as other companies offering similar products and services to the same customers at similar prices. Thus, Pepsi might view Coca-Cola as a major competitor, but not Budweiser or Ocean Spray. Bookseller Barnes & Noble might see Borders as a major competitor, but not Wal-Mart or Costco. Ritz-Carlton might see Four Seasons hotels as a major competitor, but not Holiday Inn Hotels, the Hampton Inn, or any of the thousands of bed-and-breakfasts that dot the nation. But companies actually face a much wider range of competitors. The company might define competitors as all firms making the same product or class of products. Thus, RitzCarlton would see itself as competing against all other hotels. Even more broadly, competitors might include all companies making products that supply the same service. Here Ritz-Carlton would see itself competing not only against other hotels but also against anyone who supplies rooms for weary travelers. Finally, and still more broadly, competitors might include all companies that compete for the same consumer dollars. Here Ritz-Carlton would see itself competing with travel and leisure services, from cruises and summer homes to vacations abroad. Companies must avoid "competitor myopia." A company is more likely to be "buried" by its latent competitors than its current ones. For example, it wasn't direct competitors that put an end to Western Union's telegram businesses after 161 years; it was cell phones and the Internet. And for decades, Kodak held a comfortable lead in the photographic film business. It saw only Fuji as its major competitor in this market. However, in recent years, Kodak's major new competition has not come from Fuji and other film producers, but from Sony, Canon, and other digital camera makers, and from a host of digital image developers and online imagesharing services. Because of its myopic focus on film, Kodak was late to enter the digital imaging market. It paid a heavy price. With digital cameras now outselling film cameras, and with film sales plummeting 20 percent every year, Kodak has faced major sales and profit setbacks, massive layoffs, and a 74 percent drop in its stock over the past five years. Kodak is now changing its focus to digital imaging, but the transformation will be difficult. The company has to "figure out not just how to convince consumers to buy its [digital] cameras and home printers but also how to become known as the most convenient and affordable way to process those images," says an industry analyst. "That means home and store printing as well as sending images over the Internet and cell phone^."^ Companies can identify their competitors from the i L a o i n t of view. They might see themselves as being in the oil industry, the pharmaceutical~ustry,or the beverage industry. A company must understand the competitive patterns in its industry if it tive "player" in that industry. Companies can also identify competitors view. Here they define competitors as companies that are trying to need or build relationships with the same customer group. From an industry point of view, Pepsi might see its competition as Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper, 7UP. and other soft drink makers. From a market uoint of view, however, the customer really wants "thirst quenching." This need can be satisfied by bottled water, fruit juice, iced tea, or many other fluids. Similarly, Hallmark's Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola crayons, might define its competitors as other makers of crayons and children's drawing supplies. But from a market point of view, it would include all firms making recreational products for children. In general, the market concept of competition opens the company's eyes to a broader set of actual and potential competitors. One approach is to profile the company's direct and indirect competitors by mapping the steps buyers take in obtaining and using the product. F i v e 18.2

518

Part 4 Extending Marketing

Competitor map

Source: Based on Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski, e-Commerce (New York: McGraw-Hill, 20011, p. 53

illustrates a competitor m a p of Eastrnan Kodak in the digital imaging b u ~ i n e s sIn . ~the center is a list of consumer activities: buying a camera, taking photos, creating digital photo albums, printing photos, and others. The first outer ring lists Kodak's main competitors with respect to each consumer activity: Canon and Sony for buying a camera, HP's Snapfish for sharing and printing photos, and so on. The second outer ring lists indirect competitors-Apple, Motorola, Microsoft, and others-who may become direct competitors. This type of analysis highlights both the competitive opportunities and the challenges a company faces.

Having identified the main competitors, marketing management now asks: What are competitors' objectives-what does each seek in the marketplace? What is each competitor's strategy? What are various competitor's strengths and weaknesses, and how will each react to actions the company might take?

Each competitor has a mix of objectives. The company wants to know the relative importance that a competitor places on current profitability, market share growth, cash flow, technological leadership, service leadership, and other goals. Knowing a competitor's mix of objectives reveals whether the competitor is satisfied with its current situation and how it might react to different competitive actions. For example, a company that pursues low-cost leadership will react much more strongly to a competitor's cost-reducing manufacturing breakthrough than to the same competitor's advertising increase. A company also must monitor its competitors' objectives for various segments. If the company finds that a competitor has discovered a new segment, this might be an opportunity. If it finds that competitors plan new moves into segments now served by the company, it will be forewarned and, hopefully, forearmed.

Strategic group A group of firms in an industry followingthe same or a similar strategy.

I d e ~-J ~ - g&;z1p&tors9 f g f?&:aLegies The more that one firm's strategy resembles another firm's strategy, the more the two firms compete. In most industries, the competitors can be sorted into groups that pursue different strategies. A strategic group is a group of firms in an industry following the same or a similar

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

519

strategy in a given target market. For example, in the major appliance industry, GE and Whirlpool belong to the same strategic group. Each produces a full line of medium-price appliances supported by good service. In contrast, Sub-Zero and Viking belong to a different strategic group. They produce a narrower line of higher-quality appliances, offer a higher level of service, ,and charge a premium price. Some important insights emerge from identifying strategic groups. For example, if a company enters one of the groups, the members of that group become its key competitors. Thus, if the company enters the first group, against GE and Whirlpool it can succeed only if it develops strategic advantages over these competitors. Although competition is most intense within a strategic group, there is also rivalry among groups. First, some of the strategic groups may appeal to overlapping customer segments. For example, no matter what their strategy, all major appliance manufacturers will go after the apartment and homebuilders segment. Second, the customers may not see much difference in the offers of different groupsthey may see little difference in quality between Whirlpool and KitchenAid. Finally, members of one strategic group might expand into new strategy segments. Thus, GE Monogram line of appliances competes in the premium quality, premium-price line with , I M A G I N E YOUR LIFE IN A V I I < I N G K I T C H E N . .', Viking and Sub-Zero. The company needs to look at all of the - - "-.--dimensions that identify strategic groups k3 Strategic groups: Viking belongs to the appliance industry strategic group within the industry. It must understand hotw offering a narrow Line of higher-quality appliances supported by good service. each competitor delivers value to its customers. It needs to know each competitor's product quality, features, and mix; customer services; pricing policy; distribution coverage; sales f a k e &ategy; and advertising and sales promotion programs. And it must study the details of each competitor's R&D, manufacturing, purchasing, financial, and other strategies. ? ,

':"~4

Benchmarking The process of comparing the company's products and processes to those of competitors or leading firms in other industries to find ways to improve quality and performance.

"4.

" ( 4 ,

-am

Marketers need to assess each competitor's strengths and weaknesses carefully in order to answer the critical question: What can our competitors do? As a first step, companies can gather data on each competitor's goals, strategies, and performance over the past few years. Admittedly, some of this information will be hard to obtain. For example, business-to-business marketers find it hard to estimate competitors' market shares because they do not have the same syndicated data services that are available to consumer packaged-goods companies. Companies normally learn about their competitors' strengths and weaknesses through secondary data, personal experience, and word of mouth. They can also conduct primary marketing research with customers, suppliers, and dealers. Or they can benchmark themselves against other firms, comparing the company's products and processes to those of competitors or leading firms in other industries to find ways to improve quality and performance. Benchmarking has become a powerful tool for increasing a company's competitiveness.

Next, the company wants to know: What will our competitors do? A competitor's objectives, strategies, and strengths and weaknesses go a long way toward explaining its likely actions. They also suggest its likely reactions to company moves such as price cuts, promotion

520

Part 4 Extending Marketing

increases, or new-product introductions. In addition, each competitor has a certain philosophy of doing business, a certain internal culture and guiding beliefs. Marketing managers need a deep understanding of a given competitor's mentality if they want to anticipate how the competitor will act or react. Each competitor reacts differently. Some do not react quickly or strongly to a competitor's move. They may feel their customers are loyal; they may be slow in noticing the move; they may lack the funds to react. Some competitors react only to certain types of moves and not to others. Other competitors react swiftly and strongly to any action. Thus, Procter & Gamble does not let a new detergent come easily into the market. Many firms avoid direct competition with P&G and look for easier prey, knowing that P&G will react fiercely if challenged. In some industries, competitors live in relative harmony; in others, t h e y m o n s t a n t l y . Knowing how major competitors react gives the co-ues on how best to attack competitors or how best to defend the company's current positions.

A company has already largely selected its major competitors through prior decisions on customer targets, distribution channels, and marketing-mix strategy. Management now must decide which competitors to compete against most vigorously.

The company can focus on one of several classes of competitors. Most companies prefer to compete against weak competitors. This requires fewer resources and less time. But in the process, the firm may gain little. You could argue that the firm also should compete with strong competitors in order to sharpen its abilities. Moreover, even strong competitors have some weaknesses, and succeeding against them often provides greater returns. Customer value analysis A useful tool for assessing competitor strengths and weaknesses is customer value analysis. (Analysisconducted to The aim of customer value analysis is to determine the benefits that target customers value ' determine what benefits aqd how customers rate the relative value of various competitors' offers. In conducting a cus.target customers value and tomer value analysis, the company first identifies the major attributes that customers value , how they rate the relative and the importance customers place on these attributes. Next, it assesses the company's and value of various competitors' competitors' performance on the valued attributes. offers. The key to gaining competitive advantage is to take each customer segment and examine how the company's offer compares to that of its major competitor. If the company's offer delivers greater value by exceeding the competitor's offer on all important attributes, the company can charge a higher price and earn higher profits, or it can charge the same price and gain ACUVUE' YTE? 883 .................. more market share. But if the company is seen as performing at a lower level than its major competitor on some important attributes, it must invest in strengthening those attributes or finding other important attributes where it can build a lead on the competitor.

1

After driving smaller competitors from the market, Bausch & Lomb faces Larger, more resourceful ones, such as Johnson & Johnson's Vistakon division. With Vistakon's Acuvue Lenses Lending the way, J&Jis now the top US. contact lens maker.

Most companies will compete with close competitors-those that resemble them mostrather than distant competitors. Thus, Nike competes more against Adidas than against Timberland. And Target competes with WalMart rather than against Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom. At the same time, the company may want to avoid trying to "destroy" a close competitor. For example, in the late 1970s, Bausch & Lomb moved aggressively against other soft lens manufacturers with great success. However, this forced weak competitors'to sell out to larger firms such as Johnson & Johnson. As a result, Bausch & Lomb now faces much larger competitors-and it

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

521

has suffered the consequences. Johnson & Johnson acquired Vistakon, a small nicher with only $20 million in annual sales. Backed by Johnson & Johnson's deep pockets, however, the small but nimble Vistakon developed and introduced its innovative Acuvue disposable lenses. With Vistakon leading the way, Johnson & Johnson is now the top U.S. contact lens maker with a 33 percent market share, and Bausch & Lomb lags in fourth place with a 13 percent share.4 In this case, success in hurting a close rival brought in tougher competitors.

A company really needs and benefits from competitors. The existence of competitors results in several strategic benefits. Competitors may help increase total demand. They may share the costs of market and product development and help to legitimize new technologies. They may serve less-attractive segments or lead to more product differentiation. Finally, they lower the antitrust risk and improve bargaining power versus labor or regulators. For example, by aggressively pricing its computer chips, $38 billion Intel could make things difficult for smaller rivals such as $6 billion AMD. However, even though AMD may be chipping away at its microprocessor market share, Intel may want to be careful about trying to knock AMD completely out. "If for no other reason than to keep the feds at bay," notes one analyst, "Intel needs AMD . . . and other rivals to stick around." Says another: "If AMD collapsed, the FTC would surely react."= However, a company may not view all of its competitors as beneficial. A n industry often contains "good" competitors and "badJ' ~ompetifors.~ Good competitors play by the rules of the industry. Bad competitors, in contrast, break the rules. They try to buy share rather than earn it, take large risks, and play by their own rules. For example, Yahoo! Music Unlimited sees Napster, Rhapsody, AOL Music, Sony Connect, and most other digital music download services as good competitors. They share a common platform, so that music bought from any of these competitors can be played on almost any playback device. However, it sees Apple's iTunes Music Store as a bad competitor, one that plays by its own rules at the expense of the industry as a whole. With the iPod, Apple created a closed system with mass appeal. iPods now account for an estimated 73 percent of the 30 million MP3 players currently in use in the United States. In 2003, when the iPod was the only game in town, Apple cut a deal with the Big Five record companies that locked up its device. The music companies wanted to sell songs on iTunes, but they were afraid of Internet piracy. So Apple promised to wrap their songs in its FairPlay software-the only copyprotection software that is iPod-compatible. Other digital music services such as Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Napster have since reached similar deals with the big record labels. But Apple refcised to license FairPlay to them. So those companies turned to Microsoft for copy protection. That satisfied fearful music companies, but it means none of the songs sold by those services can be played on the wildly popular iPod. And music downloaded from iTunes will play only on an iPod, making' it difficult for other MP3 players that support the Microsoft format to get a toehold. The situation has been a disaster for Apple's competitors. iTunes holds a commanding lead over its rivals, selling more than 7 5 percent of all digital music. It recently sold its billionth song7

E B Good and bad competitors: Digital music download services such as Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Napster, and Rhapsody see Apple as a bad competitor. Music

downloaded from their sites can't be played on the Apple's wildly popular iPod, and music from Apples' iTunes Music Store will play only on an iPod.

The implication is that "good" companies would like to shape an industry that consists of only well-behaved competitors. A company might be smart to support good competitors, aiming its attacks at bad competitors. Thus, Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Napster, and other digital music competitors will no doubt support one another in trying to break Apple's stranglehold on the market.

Part 4

Extending Marketing

esigning a Competitive HratdPigence System We have described the main types of information that companies need about their competitors. This information must be collected, interpreted, distributed, and used. The cost in money and time of gathering competitive intelligence is high, and the company must design its competitive intell?gence system in a cost-effective way. The competitive intelligence system first identifiesthe vital types of competitive information and the best sources of this information. Then, the system continuously collects information from the field (sales force, channels, suppliers, market research firms, trade associations, Web sites) and from published data (government publications, speeches, articles). Next the system checks the information for validity and reliability, interprets it, and organizes it in an a p p r o p ~ w a y Finally, . it sends key information to relevant decision makers and responds to inquiries from managers about c o m p ~ t o r s . With this system, company managers will receive timely information about competitors in the form of phone calls, e-mails, bulletins, newsletters, and reports. In addition, managers can connect with the system when they need an interpretation of a competitor's sudden move, or when they want to know a competitor's weaknesses and strengths, or when they need to know how a competitor will respond to a planned company move. Smaller companies that cannot afford to set up formal competitive intelligence offices can assign specific executives to watch specific competitors. Thus, a manager who used to work for a competitor might follow that competitor closely; he or she would be the "in-house expert" on that competitor. Any manager needing to know the thinking of a given competitor could contact the assigned in-house expert.

Having identified and evaluated its major competitors, the company now must design broad competitive marketing strategies by which it can gain competitive advantage through superior customer value. But what broad marketing strategies might the company use? Which ones are best for a particular company, or for the company's different divisions and products?

No one strategy is best for all companies. Each company must determine what makes the most sense given its position in the industry and its objectives, opportunities, and resources. Even within a company, different strategies may be required for different businesses or products. Johnson &Johnsonuses one marketing strategy for its leading brands in stable consumer markets-such as BAND-AIDS,Tylenol, or Johnson's baby products-and a different marketing strategy for its high-tech health care businesses and products-such as Monocryl surgical sutures or NeuFlex finger joint implants. Companies also differ in how they approach the strategy-planning process. Many large firms develop formal competitive marketing strategies and implement them religiously. However, other companies develop strategies in a less formal and orderly fashion. Some companies, such as Harley-Davidson,\Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Bh43V's MINI unit succeed by breaking many of the "rulesJ' of marketing strategy. Such companies don't operate large marketing departments, conduct expensive marketing research, spell out elaborate competitive strategies, and spend huge sums on advertising. Instead, they sketch out strategies on the fly, stretch their limited resources, live close to their customers, and create more satisfying solutions to customer needs. They form buyer's clubs, use buzz marketing, and focus on winning customer loyalty. It seems that not all marketing must follow in the footsteps of marketing giants such as IBM and Procter & Gamble. In fact, approaches to marketing strategy and practice often pass through three stages: entrepreneurial marketing, formulated marketing, and intrepreneurial marketing.8 ra

Entrepreneurial marketing: Most companies are started by individuals who live by their wits. They visualize an opportunity, construct flexible strategies on the backs of envelopes, and knock on every door to gain attention. Gary Hirshberg, who started the Stonyfield Farms yogurt company, will tell you that it's not about dumping millions of dollars into marketing and advertising. For Stonyfield, it's about company blogs, snappy packaging, and handing out yogurt from Segway transporters in Boston. And it's about telling the company story to the media. Hirshberg, known for wearing khakis and a vest, started mak-

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

523

ing yogurt in Wilton, New Hampshire, with seven cows and a dream. His marketing strategy: building a strong connection with customers using guerilla marketing. His idea is that "companies can do better with less advertising, less marketing research, more guerilla marketing, and more acting from the gut." Using this strategy, Hirshberg has built Stonyfield Farm into a $250 million ~ o m p a n y . ~ Formulated marketing: As small companies achieve success, they inevitably move toward more-formulated marketing. They develop formal marketing strategies and adhere to them closely. With 85 percent of the company owned by Groupe Danone (which also owns Dannon yogurt), Stonyfield Farm has developed over the years a formal marketing department that carries out market research and plans strategy. Although Stonyfield may remain less formal in its strategy than the Procter & Gambles of the marketing world, it employs many of the tools used in these more-developed marketing companies. Intrepreneurial marketing: Many large and mature companies get stuck in formulated marketing. They pore over the latest Nielsen numbers, scan market research reports, and - ----------try to fine-tune their competitive strategies Entrepreneurial marketing: Stonyfield Farm's idea of marketing strategyand programs. These companies sometimes "companies can do better with less advertising, Less marketing research, more lose the marketing creativity and passion that guerilla marketing, and more acting from the gut." they had at the start. They now need to reestablish within their companies the entrepreneurial spirit and actions that made them successful in the first place. They need to encourage more initiative and "intrepreneurship" at the local level. They need to refresh their marketing strategies and try new approaches. Their brand and product managers need to get out of the office, start living with their customers, and visualize new and creative ways to add value to their customers' lives. The bottom line is that there are many approaches to developing effective competitive marketing strategy. There will be a constant tension between the formulated side of marketing and the creative side. It is easier to learn the formulated side of marketing, which has occupied most of our attention in this book. But we have also seen how marketing creativity and passion in the strategies of many of the company's we've studied-whether small or large, new or mature-have helped to build and maintain success in the marketplace. With this in mind, we now look at broad competitive marketing strategies companies can use.

Almost three decades ago, Michael Porter suggested four basic competitive positioning strategies that companies can follow-three winning strategies and one losing one.1•‹The three winning strategies include:

Overall cost leadership: Here the company works hard to achieve the lowest production and distribution costs. Low costs let it price lower than its competitors and win a large market share. Texas Instruments, Dell, and Wal-Mart are leading practitioners of this strategy. Diflerentiation: Here the company concentrates on creating a highly differentiated product line and marketing program so that it comes across as the class leader in the industry. Most customers would prefer to own this brand if its price is not too high. IBM and Caterpillar follow this strategy in information technology and services and heavy construction equipment, respectively.

524

Part 4 Extending Marketing FOCUS:Here the company focuses its effort on serving a few market segments well rather than going after the whole market. For example, RitzCarlton focuses on the top 5 percent of corporate and leisure travelers. Glassmaker AFG Industries focuses on users of tempered and colored glass. It makes 70 percent of the glass for microwave oven doors and 75 percent of the glass for shower doors and patio tabletops. Similarly, Hohner owns a stunning 85 percent of the harmonica market.ll Companies that pursue a clear strategy-one of the above-will likely perform well. The firm that carries out that strategy best will make the most profits. But firms that do not pursue a clear strategymiddle-of-the-roaders-do the worst. Sears and Holiday Inn encountered difficult times because they did not stand out as the lowest in cost, highest in perceived value, or best in serving some market segment. Middle-of-the-roaders try to be good on all strategic counts, but end up being not very good at anything. More recently, two marketing consultants, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, offered new classifications of competitive marketing strategies.lz They suggested that companies gain leadership positions by delivering superior value to their customers. Companies can pursue any of three strategies-called value disciplines-for delivering superior customer value. These are: - --------

-

-

a p e r a t i o n a l excelfen e: The company provides &iPerior valu&4eading its industry in price and_ convenience. It works to reduce costs andTF&ate a lean aGd efficient value-delivery It Focus: Small but profitable Hohner owns a stunning 85 percent of the - system. harmonica market. serves customers who want reliable, good-quality products or services, but who want them cheaply and easily. Examples include Wal-Mart, Washington Mutual, Southwest Airlines, and Dell.---__ ,euiomer intimm : The company provides superior value by precisely segmenting its ' k i a z k e t s a - -~ 17 05r i nits ~ products or services to match exactly the needs of targeted customers. It specializes i n satisfying unique customer needs through a close relationship with and intimate knowledge of the customer. It builds detailed customer databases for segmenting and targeting, and it empowers its marketing people to respond quickly to customer needs. Customer-intimate companies serve customers who are willing to pay a premium to get precisely+whatthey v~a,pt.They will do almost anything to build long-term customer loyalty and to capture customer lifetime value. Examples include Nordstrom, American Express, and British Airways (see Real Marketing 18.1). The company provides superior value by offering a continuousucts or services. It aims to make its own and c o m p & ~ t obsos 1eteProduct leaders are open to new ideas, relentlessly pursue new solutions, and work to get new products to market quickly. They serve customers who want state-of-the-art products and services, regardless of the costs in terms of price or inconvenience. Examples include Nokia and Microsoft.

-7

Some companies successfully pursue more than one value discipline at the same time. For example, FedEx excels at both operational excellence and customer intimacy. However, such companies are rare-few firms can be the best at more than one of these disciplines. By trying to be good at all of the value disciplines, a company usually ends u p being best a t none. Treacy and Wiersema found that leading companies focus on and excel at a single value discipline, while meeting industry standards on the other two. Such companies design their entire value delivery network to single-mindedly support the chosen discipline. For example,

Chapter 18

Some companies go to extremes to coddle big spenders. From department stores like Nordstrom, to Lexus and BMW, to hotels like Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons, such companies give their well-heeled customers exactly what they need-and even more. For example, concierge services are no longer the sole province of five-star hotels and fancy credit cards. They are starting to show up at airlines, retailers, and even electronic-goods makers. Sony Electronics, for instance, offers a service for its wealthiest customers, called Cierge, that provides a free personal shopper and early access to new gadgets, as well as "white-glove" help with the installation. (Translation: They will send someone over to set up the new gear.) And then there's British Airways' "At Your Service" programavailable to a hand-picked few of the airline's gold-level elite customers. There's almost nothing that the service won't do for members-tracking down hard-to-get Wimbledon tickets, for example, or running errands around town, sitting in a member's home to wait for the plumber or cable guy, or even planning your wedding, right down to the cake. But when it comes to stalking the well-to-do, perhaps nowhere is the competition greater than in the credit-card industry. To rise above the credit-card clutter and to attract high-end card holders, the major credit-card companies have created a new top tier of superpremium cards-Visa's Signature card, Mastercard's World card, American Express's super-elite Centurion card. Affluent customers are extremely profitable. While premium cards represent only 1.5 percent of the consumer credit cards issued by Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, they account for 2 0 percent of the spending. And well-to-do cardholders tend to default a lot less, too. The World MasterCard program targets what it calls the "mass affluent" and reaches 15 million wealthy households. Visa's Signature card zeros in on "new affluent" households, those with incomes exceeding $125,000. Its seven million cardholders account for 3 percent of Visa's consumer credit cards but 18 percent of Visa sales. Both cards feature a pack of special privileges. For its Signature card, Visa advertises, "The good life isn't only in your reach-it's in your wallet." In addition to the basics, such as no preset spending limit and 24-hour concierge services, Visa promises "upgrades, perks, and discounts" at major airlines, restaurants, and hotels, and special treatment at partners like the Ritz-Carlton, men's fashion designer Ermenegildo Zegna, watchmaker Audemars Piguet. But when it comes to premium cards, the American Express Centurion card is the "elite of the elite" for luxury card carriers. This mysterious, much-coveted black credit card is issued by invitation only, to customers who spend more than $150,000 a year on other AmEx cards and meet other not-so-clear requirements. Then, the select few who do receive the card pay a $2,500 annual fee just for the privilege of carrying it. But the Centurion card comes dripping with perks and prestige. The elusive plastic, with its elegant matte finish, is coveted by big spenders. "A black card is plastic bling-bling," says an industry observer, "a way for celebrities, athletes, and major business people to express their status." A real T-shirt-and-jeans kind of guy, Peter H. Shankman certainly doesn't look like a high roller, but American Express knows better. After he was snubbed by salesmen at a Giorgio

Creating Competitive Advantage

525

Targeting affiuent customers: Visa's Signature card zeros i n on the "new affluent." It offers no preset spending limit, 24-hour concierge services, and Loads of "upgrades, perks, and discounts . . . it's not just everywhere you want to be. It's everything you ever wanted."

Armani boutique on Fifth Avenue in New York recently, the 31-year-old publicist saw "an unbelievable attitude reversal" at the cash register when he whipped out his black AmEx Centurion Card. In June, a Radioshack cashier refused the card, thinking it was a fake. " 'Trust me,' I said. 'Run the card,' " recalls the chief executive of Geek Factory, a public-relations and marketing firm. "I could buy a Learjet with this thing." An exaggeration, perhaps. But AmEx's little black card is decidedly the "It" card for big spenders. Some would-be customers go to absurd lengths to get what they see as a musthave status symbol. Hopefuls have written poems to plead their cases. Others say they'll pay the fee but swear not to use the card-they want it just for show. "Every week I get phone calls or letters, often from prominent people, asking me for the card," says AmEx's head of consumer cards, Alfred F. Kelly Jr. Who, he won't say. In fact, AmEx deliberately builds an air of mystery around the sleek card, keeping hush-hush such details as the number of cards in circulation. Analysts say AmEx earns back many times what it spends on perks for black-card customers in both marketing buzz and fees. (continues)

526

Part 4

Extending Marketing

Basic services on the Centurion card include a personal travel counselor and concierge, available 2417. Beyond that, almost anything goes. Feel like shopping at Bergdorf Goodman or Saks Fifth Avenue at midnight? No problem. Traveling abroad in first class?Take a pal-the extra ticket is free. The royal treatment often requires elaborate planning. One AmEx concierge arranged a bachelor party for 25, which invobed a four-day trip that included 11 penthouse suites, travel by private jet, and a meet-and-greet with an owner of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. The tab was more than $300,000. How did Shankman earn his card? All the travel and entertainment charges he racks up hosting his clients prompted AmEx to send it to him. It arrived in December, along with a 43-page manual. Recently, Shankman sought reservations for Spice Market, an often-overbooked restaurant in Manhattan, to impress a friend. He called his concierge. "Half an hour later it was done," says Shankman. Membership does have its privileges. When American Express seeks new Centurion cardholders, it does so discreetly. Last year, when it wanted to expand the elite list in Europe without attracting the ineligible, it mailed invitations to the top 1 percent of its platinum card holders. The mailing contained a card embedded in a glass paperweight with an invitation to meet personally with American Express's European president.

So, how many people actually have a Centurion card? "Abou same number of people who can afford a Mercedes Maybach," Desiree Fish, a spokeswoman for American Express, referring luxury car that can list for more than $300,000. The best guess is that only about 5,000 people worldwide have a Centurion card in their back pocket. Sources: American Express example adapted from Mara Der Hovanesian, "This Black Card Gives You Carte Blanche," Busine Week, August 9, 2004, p. 54. Quotesand other information from David Carr, "No Name, but Plenty of Bling-Bling for Show," New Times, September 13, 2004, p. C11; Eleena de Lisser, "How to Get

an Airline to Wait for Your Plumber-In Battle for Biggest Spenders, British Airways, Sony Rolls Out Hotel-Style 'Concierge' Service," Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2002, p. D l ; James Tenser, "Cards Play Their Luxury Hand Right," Advertising Age, September 13, 2004, pp. S13-S14; Frederick H. Lowe, "Cards for the Rich: They're Different, Indeed," Credit Card Management, February 2005, , pp. 18-22; Eric Dash, "New Spots for the Credit Card Companies Show Fierce Competition for the High-End Consumer," New York Times, May 11,2005, p. C8; "The 10 Best DM Campaigns," Campaign, December 16, 2005, p. 38; and www.visa.com and www.mastercard.com, December 2006.

Wal-Mart knows that customer intimacy and product leadership are important. Compared with other discounters, it offers very good customer service and an excellent product assortment. Still, it purposely offers less customer service and less product' depth than do Nordstrom or Williams-Sonoma, which pursue customer intimacy. Instead, Wal-Mart focuses obsessively on operational excellence-on reducing costs and streamlining its order-to-delivery process in order to make it convenient for customers to buy just the right products at the lowest prices. By the same token, Ritz-Carlton Hotels wants to be efficient and to employ the latest technologies. But what really sets the luxury hotel chain apart is its customer intimacy. RitzCarlton creates custom-designed experiences to coddle its customers: Check into any Ritz-Carlton hotel around the world, and you'll be amazed at how well the hotel's employees anticipate your slightest need. Without ever asking, they seem to know that you want a nonsmoliing room with a king-size bed, a nonallergenic pillow, and breakfast with decaffeinated coffee in your room. How does Ritz-Carlton work this magic? At the heart of the system is a huge customer database, which contains information gathered through the observations of hotel employees. Each day, hotel staffers-from those at the front desk to those in maintenance and housekeepingdiscreetly record the unique habits, likes, and dislikes of each guest on small "guest preference pads." These observations are then transferred to a corporatewide "guest preference database." Every morning, a "guest historian" at each hotel reviews the files of all new arrivals who have previously stayed at a Ritz-Carlton and prepares a list of suggested extra touches that might delight each guest. Guests have responded strongly to such personalized service. Since inaugurating the guest-history system, Ritz-Carlton has boosted guest retention by 23 percent. An amazing 95 percent of departing guests report that their stay has been a truly memorable experience. Classifying competitive strategies as value disciplines is appealing. It defines marketing strategy in terms of the single-minded pursuit of delivering superior value to customers. Each value discipline defines a specific way to build lasting customer relationships.

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

F Hypothetical market structure

Market leader

The firm in an industry with the largest market share. Market challenger A runner-up firm that is

fighting hard to increase its market share in an industry. Market follower A runner-up firm that wants

to hold its share in an industry without rocking the boat.

Market leader

Market challengers

Market followers

Market nichers

Firms competing in a given target market, at any point in time, differ in their objectives and resources. Some firms are large, others small. Some have many resources, others are strapped for funds. Some are mature and established, others new and fresh. Some strive for rapid market share growth, others for long-term profits. And the firms occupy different competitive positions in the target market. We now examine competitive strategiesbased on the roles firms play in the target marketleader, challenger, follower, or nicher. Suppose that an industry contains the firms shown in Figure 18.3. Forty percent of the market is in the hands of the market leader, the firm with the largest market share. Another 30 percent is in the hands of market challengers, runner-up firms that are fighting hard to increase their market share. Another 20 percent is in the hands of market followers, other runner-up firms that want to hold their share without rocking the boat. The remaining 10 percent is in the hands of market nichers, firms that serve small segments not being pursued by other firms. Table 18.1 shows specific marketing strategies-thatare available to market leaders, challengers, followers, and nichers.13Remember, however, that these classifications often do not apply to a whole company, but only to its position in a specific industry. Large companies such as GE, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, or Disney might be leaders in some markets and nichers in others. For example, Procter & Gamble leads in many segments, such as laundry detergents and shampoo. But it challenges Unilever in the hand soaps and Kimberly-Clark in facial tissues. Such companies often use different strategies for different business units or products, depending on the competitive situations of each.

Market nicher A firm that serves small

segments that the other firms in an industry overlook or ignore.

Most industries contain an acknowledged market leader. The leader has the largest market share and usuallyJeads the other firms in price changes, new-product introductions, distribution coverage, and promotion spending. The leader may or may not be admired or respected, but other firms concede its dominance. Competitors focus on the leader as a company to challenge, imitate, or avoid. Some of the best-known market leaders are Wal-Mart (retailing), Microsoft (computer software), IBM (information technology services and equipment), Caterpillar (earth-moving equipment), Anheuser-Busch (beer),McDonald's (fast food), Nike (athletic footwear), and Google (Internet search services). A leader's life is not easy. It must maintain a constant watch. Other firms keep challenging its strengths or trying to take advantage of its weaknesses. The market leader can easily miss a turn in the market and plunge into second or third place. A product innovation may come along and hurt the leader (as when Apple developed the iPod and took the market lead &om Sony's Walkrnan portable audio devices). The leader might grow arrogant or complacent and misjudge the competition (as when Sears lost its lead to Wal-Mart). Or the leader might look old-fashioned against new and peppier rivals (as when Levi's lost serious ground to more current or stylish brands such as Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, or Guess). To remain number one, leading firms can take any of three actions. First, they can find ways to expand total demand. Second, they can protect their current market share through

Strategies for Market Leaders, Challengers, Followers, and Nichers

e

1 i-

Market Leader Strategies

Market Challenger Strategies

Market Follower Strategies

Market Nicher Strategies

Full frontal attack Indirect attack

Follow closely Follow at a distance

By customer, market, qzlity-priceace

-

-

Expand total market i Protect market share : Expand market share i ?

---

I_ I

--II_------a.,,-.-..~---....

4

-,-.

_-I-" I -

.">._

MU

I

ctc ~ h 3 g ---

--- - ------.-------'---I.---

L^i_

--- ---

528

Part 4

Extending Marketing

- ~~~

good defensive and offensive actions. Third, they can try to expand their market share further, even if market size remains constant. y r \ e L / . / L.cSer3 Expanding the Total Demaad -+ ~l=p The leading firm normally gains the most when total mar et expands. If Americans purchase more hybrid automobiles, Toyota stands to gain the most because it sells the nation's largest share of hybrids. If Toyota can convince more Americans that hybrid cars are both more economical and more environmentally friendly, it will benefit more than its competitors. Market leaders can expand the market by developing new users, new uses, and more many places. For example, Revlon usage of its products. They usually can fin-in might find new perfume users in its current markets by convincing women who do not use perfume to try it. It might find users in new demographic segments, such as by producing fragrances for men. Or it might expand into new geographic segments, perhaps by selling its fragrances in other countries. Marketers can expand markets by discovering and promoting new uses for the product. For example, Arm & Hammer baking soda, whose sales had flattened after 125 years, discovered that consumers were using baking soda as a refrigerator deodorizer. It launched a heavy advertising and publicity campaign focusing on this use and persuaded consumers in half of America's homes to place an open box of baking soda in their refrigerators and to replace it every few months. Today, its Web site (www.armandharnmer.com) features new uses"Solutions for my home, my family, my bodyH-ranging fcom removing residue left behind by hair-styling products and sweetening garbage disposals, laundry hampers, refrigerators, and trash cans to creating a home spa in your bathroom.

&

Creating more usage: Campbell urges people to eat its soups and other products more often by running ads containing new recipes. It even offers online video clips of guest chefs cooking any of 27 recipes on Campbell's Kitchen TV.

!

f

I I

'

J ! I

I

&;z&% :::z:,*as s p r i n o ~

S rut Hold

breath offresh : ~

b

Z

~

~

=

Viewthtblledl~ -F-emh C3mpbcll's FilchenT.V.

Cheeseb~onerPa*

***ltf

Smayfsuprteffsuasend

--s RePCOQkr

7, eesy-arppr Add lo recoc box s

a0

i m m

,

'

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

529

Finally, market leaders can encourage more usage by convincing people to use the product more often or to use more per occasion. For example, Campbell urges people to eat soup and other Campbell products more often by running ads containing new recipes. It also offers a toll-free hot line (1-888-MM-MM-GOOD),staffed by live "recipe representatives" who offer recipes to last-minute cooks at a loss for meal ideas. And the,Campbell's Kitchen section of the company's Web site (www.cambellsoup.com) lets visitors search for or exchange recipes, set up their own personal recipe box, sign up for a daily or weekly Meal Mail program, and even watch online video clips of guest chefs cooking any of 27 recipes on Campbell's Kitchen TV.

While trying to expand total market size, the leading firm also must protect its current business against competitors' attacks. Dell must also constantly guard against Hewlett-Packard; Caterpillar against Komatsu; Wal-Mart against Target; and McDonald's against Burger King. What can the market leader do to protect its position? First, it must prevent or fix weaknesses that provide opportunities for competitors. It must always fulfill its value promise. Its prices must remain consistent with the value that customers see in the brand. It must work tirelessly to keep strong relationships with valued customers. The leader should "plug holes" so that competitors do not jump in. But the best defense is a good offense, and the best response &ontinuous innovation. The leader refuses to be content with the way things are and leads the industry in new products, customer services, distribution effectiveness, and cost cutting. It keeps increasing its competitive effectiveness and value to customers. And when attacked by challengers, the market leader reacts decisively. For example, consider Frito-Lay's reaction to a challenge by a large competitor: In the early 1990s, Anheuser-Busch attacked Frito-Lay's leadership in salty snacks. The big brewer had noticed that Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, had been distracted by its expansion into cookies and crackers. So Anheuser-Busch began to slip its new Eagle brand salty snacks onto the shelves of its traditional beer outlets-supermarkets and liquor stores-where Frito-Lay was comparatively weak. Frito-Lay reacted ruthlessly. First, to get itself into fighting shape, the salty-snacks leader cut the number of offerings in its product line by half-no more cookies, no more crackers- and invested in product quality, which had slipped below Eagle's. Then, Frito-Lay concentrated its energy, not to mention its 10,000 route drivers, on America's salty-snack aisles. FritoLay's strong brands and huge size gave it a clear economic advantage over AnheuserBusch in the salty-snack business. Armed with a superior offering-better chips, better service, and lower prices-Frito-Lay began to put pressure on one of Eagle's strongholds: potato chips in supermarkets. It sent its salespeople streaming into supermarkets; some even stayed at the largest supermarkets full time, continually restocking the Frito-Lay products. When the dust had settled in 1996, Anheuser-Busch had shuttered its Eagle snack business. In the end, Frito-Lay even bought four of Eagle's plants-at very attractive prices.14

Market leaders also can grow by increasing their market shares further. In many markets, small market share increases mean very large sales increases. For example, in the U.S. digital camera market, a 1percent increase in market share is worth $68 million; in carbonated soft drinks, $660 million! l5 Studies have shown that, on average, profitability rises with increasing market share. Because of these findings, many companies have sought expanded market shares to improve profitability. GE, for example, declared that it wants to be at least number one or two in each of its markets or else get out. GE shed its computer, air-conditioning, small appliances, and television businesses because it could not achieve top-dog position in these industries. However, some studies have found that many industries contain one or a few highly profitable large firms, several profitable and more focused firms, and a large number of mediumsized firms with poorer profit performance. It appears that profitability increases as a business gains share relative to competitors in its served market. For example, Lexus holds only a small share of the total car market, but it earns high profits because it is th$ leading brand in the luxury-performance car segment. And it has achieved this high share in its served market because it does other things right, such as producing high-cpality products, creating good service experiences, and building close customer relationships. Companies must not think, however, that gaining increased market share will automatically improve profitability. Much depends on their strategy for gaining increased share. There

530

Part 4 Extending Marketing are many high-share companies with low profitability and many low-share companies with high profitability. The cost of buying higher market share may far exceed the returns. Higher shares tend to produce higher profits only when unit costs fall with increased market share, or when the company offers a superior-quality product and charges a premium price that more than covers the cost of offering higher quality.

Firms that are second, third, or lower in an industry are sometimes quite large, such as Colgate, Ford, Lowes, Avis, and Hewlett-Packard.These runner-up firms can adopt one of two competitivb strategies: They can challenge the leader and other competitors in an aggressive bid for more market share (market challengers). Or they can play along with competitors and not rock the boat (market followers). A market challenger must first define which competitors to challenge and its strategic objective. The challenger can attack the market leader, a high-risk but potentially high-gain strategy. Its goal might be to take over market leadership. Or the challenger's objective may simply be to wrest more market share. Although it might seem that the market leader has the most going for it, challengers often have what some strategists call a "second-mover advantage." The challenger observes what has made the leader successful and improves upon it. Consider Lowe's, the number-two home-improvement retailer:16 Home Depot invented the home-improvement superstore, and it's still putting up good numbers. However, after observing Home Depot's success, No. 2 Lowe's, with its brighter stores, wider aisles, and arguably more helpful salespeople, has positioned itself as the friendly alternative to Big Bad Orange. For Lowe's the advantage has been substantialand profitable. Although Lowe's still earns barely half of Home Depot's revenues, its sales grew at a 62 percent greater rate last year. And over the past ten years, Lowe's has earned average annual returns of 23.5 percent, versus Home Depot's 14.9percent. Lowe's isn't the only No. 2 outperforming the industry leaders. Target has been thumping WalMart, PepsiCo is outfizzing Coca-Cola, and Advanced Micro Devices is chipping away at Intel. In fact, Fortune magazine analyzed the stock returns of major U.S. companies in ten industries and found that the industry leaders by revenue returned a mere 2 percent over the past year, versus 21 percent for their second bananas. The gap in earnings growth-8 percent versus 24 percent-was almost as great. Alternatively, the challenger can avoid the leader and instead challenge firms its own size, or smaller local and regional firms. These smaller firms may be underfinanced and not serving their customers well. Several of the major beer companies grew to their present size not by challenging large competitors, but by gobbling up small local or regional competitors. If the company goes after a small local company, its objective may be to put that company out

Second mover advantage: After observing Home Depot's success, No. 2 Lowe's, with its brighter stores, wider aisles, and arguably more helpful salespeople, has positioned itself as the friendly alternative t o Big Bad Orange.

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

53 I

of business. The important point remains: The challenger must choose its opponents carefully and have a clearly defined and attainable objective. How can the market challenger best attack the chosen competitor and achieve its strategic objectives? It may launch a full frontal attack, matching the competitor's product, advertising, price, and distribution efforts. It attacks the competitor's strengths rather than its weaknesses. The outcome depends on who has the greater strength and endurance. If the market challenger has fewer resources than the competitor, a frontal attack makes little sense. For example, the runner-up razor manufacturer in Brazil attacked Gillette, the market leader. The attacker was asked if it offered the consumer a better razor, "No," was the reply. "A lower price?" "No." "A clever advertising campaign?" "No." "Better allowances to the trade?" "No." "Then how do you expect to take share away from Gillette?" "Sheer determination" was the reply. Needless to say, the offensive failed. Even great size and strength may not be enough to challenge a firmly entrenched, resourceful competitor successfully. Rather than challenging head-on, the challenger can make an indirect attack on the competitor's weaknesses or on gaps in the competitor's market coverage. For example, Netflix found a foothold against giant Blockbuster in the DVD rental market by renting to the consumers through the mail and offering no late fees. Southwest Airlines challenged American and other large carriers by serving the overlooked short-haul, no-frills commuter segment at smaller, out-of-the-way airports. Such indirect challenges make good sense when the company has fewer resources than the competitor.

Not all runner-up companies want to challenge the market leader. Challenges are never taken lightly by the leader. If the challenger's lure is lower prices, improved service, or additional product features, the leader can quickly match these to defuse the attack. The leader probably has more staying power in an all-out battle for customers. For example, a few years ago, when Kmart launched its renewed low-price "blue-light special" campaign, directly challenging Wal-Mart's everyday low prices, it started a price war that it couldn't win. Wal-Mart had little trouble fending off Kmart's challenge, leaving Kmart worse off for the attempt. Thus, many firms prefer to follow rather than challenge the leader. Similarly, after years of challenging Procter & Gamble unsuccessfully in the US. laundry detergent market, Unilever recently decided to throw in the towel and become a follower instead. P&G captures 55 and 75 percent shares of the liquid and powder detergent markets, respectively, versus Unilever's 1 7 and 7 percent shares. P&G has outmuscled competitors on every front. For example, it batters competitors with a relentless stream of new and improved products. Recently, P&G spent more than $50 million introducing one new product alone, Tide with Downy. In response to the onslaught, Unilever has cut prices and promotion on its detergents to focus on profit rather than market share.17 A follower can gain many advantages. The market leader often bears the huge expenses of developing new products and markets, expanding distribution, and educating the market. By contrast, as with challengers, the market follower can learn from the leader's experience. It can copy or improve on the leader's products and programs, usually with much less investment. Although the follower will probably not overtake the leader, it often can be as profitable. Following is not the same as being passive or a carbon copy of the leader. A market follower must know how to hold current customers and win a fair share of new ones. It must find the right balance between following closely enough to win customers from the market leader but following at enough of a distance to %voidretaiiati3. Each follower tries to bring distinctive advantages to its target market-location, services, financing. The follower is often a major target of attack by challengers. Therefore, the market follower must keep its manufacturing costs and prices low or its product quality and services high. It must also enter new markets as they open up.

Almost every industry includes firms that specialize in serving market niches. Instead of pursuing the whole market, or even large segments, these firms target subsegments. Nichers are often smaller firms with limited resources. But smaller divisions of larger firms also may PWsue niching strategies. Firms with low shares of the total market can be highly successful and profitable through smart niching. For example, Veterinary Pet Insurance is tiny compared with the insurance industry giants, but it captures a profitable 82 percent share of all health insurance policies for our furry-or feathery-friends (see Real Marketing 18.2).

532

Part 4 Extending Marketing

Health insurance for pets? MetLife, Prudential, Northwestern Mutual, and most othei large insurs haven't paid much attention to it. But that leaves plenty of room for more-focused nichers, for whom pet health insurance has become a lucrative business. The largest of the small competitors is Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI). VPl's mission is to "make the miracles of veterinary medicine affordable to all pet owners." VPI was founded in 1980 by vetefinarian Jack Stephens. He never intended to leave his practice, but his life took a dramatic turn when he visited a local grocery store and was identified by a client's daughter as "the man who killed Buffy." Stephens had euthanized the family dog two weeks earlier. He immediately began researching the possibility of creating medical pet insurance. "There is nothing more frustrating for a veterinarian than knowing that you can heal a sick patient, but the owner lacks the financial resources and instructs you to put the pet down," says Stephens. "I wanted to change that." Pet insurance is a still-small but fast-growing segment of the insurance business. Insiders think the industry offers huge potential. Currently, there are some 74 million dogs and 9 1 million cats in the United States-more than 60 percent of all US. households own one or the other or both. Another 4.6 million US. households own one or more of about 300 species of birds; two million more own pet rabbits. A recent survey showed that 94 percent of pet owners attribute human personality traits to their pets. According to a VPI spokesperson, more than two-thirds have included their pets in holiday celebrations and one-third characterize their pet as a child. Americans now spend a whopping $28.5 billion a year on their pets, including $9.4 billion on pet health care. Unlike in Britain and Sweden, where almost half of all pet owners carry pet health insurance, relatively few pet owners in the United States now carry such coverage. However, a recent study of pet owners found that nearly 75 percent are willing to go into debt to pay for veterinary care for their furry-or feathery-companions. And for many pet medical procedures, they'd have to! If not diagnosed quickly, even a mundane ear infection in a dog can result in $1,000 worth of medical treatment. Ten days of dialysis treatment can reach $12,000 and cancer treatment as much as $40,000. All of this adds up to a lot of potential growth for pet health insurers. VPlls plans cover more than 6,400 pet medical problems and conditions. The insurance helps pay for office calls, prescriptions, treatments, lab fees, x-rays, surgery, and hospitalization. Like its handful of competitors, VPI issues health insurance policies for dogs and cats. Unlike its competitors, VPI recently expanded its coverage to a menagerie of exotic pets as well. Among other critters, the Avian and Exotic Pet Plan covers birds, rabbits, ferrets, rats, guinea pigs, snakes (except extra large ones) and other reptiles, iguanas, turtles, hedgehogs, and potbellied pigs. "There's such a vast array of pets", says a VPI executive, "and people love them. We have to respect that." How's VPI doing in its niche? It's growing like a newborn puppy. VPI is by far the largest of the handful of companies that offer pet insurance, providing more than 60 percent of all US. pet insurance policies. Since its inception, VPI has issued more than 1 million policjes, and it now serves more than 369,000 policyholders. Sales have grown rapidly, exceeding $110 million in policy premiums last year. That might not amount to much for the likes of MetLife, Prudential, or

Nichers: Market nicher V P I is growing faster than a new-born puppy. Its mission is to "make the miracles of veterinary medicine affordable to a l l pet owners." Northwestern Mutual, which rack up tens of billions of dollars it yearly revenues. But it's profitable business for nichers like VPI. And there's room to grow. Less than 5 percent of pet owners currently buy pet insurance. "Pet health insurance is no longer deemed so outlandish in a world where acupuncture for cats, hospice of dogs, and Prozac for ferrets are part of a veterinarian's routine," says one analyst. Such insurance is a real godsend for VPl's policyholders. Just ask Joe and Paula Sena, whose cocker spaniel, Elvis, is receiving radiation treatments for cancer. "He is not like our kids-he is our kid," says Ms. Sena. "He is a kid in a dog's body." VPI is making Elvis's treatments possible by picking up a lion's share of the costs. "Cost often becomes the deciding factor in the level of care owners can provide," says VPI founder Stephens. VPI will always "strive to make the miracles of modern med~cineaffordable." Sources: Kevin Graman, "Some Pay Premium for Healthy Pets," Knight Ridder Business News, April 17, 2006, p. 1; Yilu Zhao, "Break a Leg, Fluffy, If You Have Insurance," New York Times, June 30, 2002, p. 9.11; Liz Pulliam Weston, "Should You Buy Pet Insurance?"hlSN R/lanej accessed at www.rnoneycentral.msn.com, May 1,2004; Darnon Darlin, "Vet Bills and the Priceless Pet: What's a Practical Owner to Do?" New York Times, May 13, 2006, p. C1; and information accessed at www.petinsurance.com, December 2006.

'

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

533

Why is niching profitable? The main reason is that the market nicher ends up knowing the target customer group so well that it meets their needs better than other firms that casually sell to that niche. As a result, the nicher can charge a substantial markup over costs because of the added value. Whereas the mass marketer achieves high volume, the nicher achieves high margins. Nichers try to find one or more market niches that are safe and profitable. An ideal market niche is big enough to be profitable and has growth potential. It is one that the firm can serve effectively. Perhaps most importantly, the niche is of little interest to major competitors. And the firm can build the skills and customer goodwill to defend itself against a major competitor as the niche grows and becomes more attractive. Here's an example of a profitable nicher:

When doer technology become arl7 I: happens wnen form r5 optimircd and tvnction ir pertecled. Introducing Ihc world3 morr advanced moule-lhe MX" R ~ a l u t l o n Its . hlicroGeatv'PreCi$lon Sciall Wheel helps yav 1iy through even the longell doCumentr wilh e m , while the precisian ot nert.genenlion laser technology giver you unprecedented conlrol. Learn about our family at wirclerr mice a t Logi:ech.com

Logitech has become a $1.5 billion global success story by focusing on human interface devices-computer mice, game controllers, keyboards, PC video cameras, and others. It makes every variation of computer mouse imaginable. Over the years, Logitech has flooded the world with more than 500 million computer mice of all varieties, mice for leftand right-handed people, wireless mice, travel mice, mini mice, mice shaped like real mice for children, and 3-D mice that let the user appear to move behind screen objects. Breeding mice has been so successful that Logitech dominates the world mouse market, with giant Microsoft as its runner-up. Niching has been very good for Logitech. Its sales and profits have more than doubled in just the past six years.18

Logitzci-1 Dcrayned l o move you

'

Profitable niching: Breeding mice has been so successful for Logitech that it dominates the world mouse market, with giant Microsoft as its runner-up.

The key idea in niching is specialization. A market nicher can specialize along any of several markets, customer, product, or marketing mix lines. For example, it can specialize in serving one type of end user, as when a law firm specializes in the criminal, civil, or business law markets. The nicher can specialize in serving a given customer-size group. Many nichers specialize in serving small and mid-size customers who are neglected by the majors. /--\ Some nichers focus on one or a few specific cus- . tom& /selling their entire output to a single cor&an& &s Wal-Mart or Gene_raL&fotors.Still other nichers specialize by geographi tain locality, region, or nichers operate at the low or high end of thk'.mqke~p~ example, Hewlett-Packard specializes in the high-quality, high-price end of the hand-calculator market.

lending and realty services, connecting home buyers and sellers with national networks of mortgage lenders and realtors who compete for the customers' business. "When lenders compete," it proclaims, "you win." Niching carries some major risks. For example, the market niche may dry up, or it might to the point that it attracts larger competitors. That is why many companies practice . . ;.. '.;-- ~.multiple niching. By developing two or more niches, a company&xreases its chances for survival. Even some large firms prefer a multiple niche strategy to serving the total market. For example, Alberto Culver is a $3.5 billion company that has used a multiple niching strategy to grow profitably without incurring the wrath of a market leader. The company, known mainly for its Albedo VO5 hair products, has focused its marketing muscle on acquiring a stable of smaller niche brands. It niches in hair, skin, and personal care products (Albedo V05, St. Ives, Motions, Just for Me, Pro-Line, TRESemme, and Consort men's hair ~roducts),beauty supplies r e t a g (Sally Beauty Supply stores), seasonings and sweeteners (Molly McButter, Mrs. Dash* SugarTwin, Baker's Joy), and home products (static-clingfighter Static Guard). Most of its brands are number one in their niches. Alberto Culver's CEO explains the company's ~ M l o s o this ~h~

534

Part 4

Extending Marketing

way: "We know who we are and, perhaps more importantly, we know who we are not. We know that if we try to out-Procter Procter, we will fall flat on our face."lg

Competitor-centered company A company whose moves are mainly based on competitors' actions and reactions.

Customer-centered company A company that focuses on customer developments in designing its marketing strategies and on delivering superior value to its target customers.

Market-centered A company that pays to both customers and competitors in designing its marketing strategies.

Whether a company is a market leader, challenger, follower, or nicher, it must watch its competitors closely and find the competitive marketing strategy that positions it most effectively. And it must continually adapt its strategies to the fast-changing competitive environment. This question now arises: Can the company spend too much time and energy tracking competitors, damaging its customer orientation? The answer is yes! A company can become so competitor centered that it loses its even more important focus on maintaining profitable customer relationships. A competitor-centered company is one that spends most of its time tracking competitors' moves and market shares and trying to find strategies to counter them. This approach has some pluses and minuses. On the positive side, the company develops a fighter orientation, watches for weaknesses in its own position, and searches out competitors' weaknesses. On the negative side, the company becomes too reactive. Rather than carrying out its own customer relationship strategy, it bases its own moves on competitors' moves. As a result, it may end up simply matching or extending industry practices rather than seeking innovative new ways to create more value for customers. A customer-centered company, by contrast, focuses more on customer developments in designing its strategies. Clearly, the customer-centered company is in a better position to identify new opportunities and set long-run strategies that make sense. By watching customer needs evolve, it can decide what customer groups and what emerging needs are the most important to serve. Then it can concentrate its resources on delivering superior value to target customers. In practice, today's companies must be market-centered companies, watching both their customers and their competitors. But they must not let competitor watching blind them to customer focusing. Figure 18.4 shows that companies have moved through four orientations over the years. In the first stage, they were product oriented, paying little attention to either customers or competitors. In the second stage, they became customer oriented and started to pay attention to customers. In the third stage, when they started to pay attention to competitors, they became competitor oriented. Today, companies need to be market oriented, paying balanced attention to both customers and competitors. Rather than simply watching competitors and trying to beat them on current ways of doing business, they need to watch customers and find innovative ways to build profitable customer relationships by delivering more value than competitors do. As noted previously, marketing begins with a good understanding of consumers and the marketplace.

No

Evolving company orientations

Yes

Yes

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

Reviewing the Concepts Today's companies face their toughest competition ever. Understanding customers is an important first step in developing strong customer relationships, but it's not enough. To gain competitive advantage, companies must use this understanding to design market offers that deliver more value than the offers of competitors seeking to win over the same customers. This chapter examines how firms analyze their competitors and design effective competitive marketing strategies. Discuss the need to understand competitors as well as customers through competitor analysis. In order to prepare an effective marketing strategy, a company must consider its competitors as well as its customers. Building profitable customer relationships requires satisfying target consumer needs better than competitors do. A company must continuously analyze cornpetitors and develop competitive marketing strategies that position it effectively against competitors and give it the strongest possible competitive advantage. Competitor analysis first involves identifying the company's major competitors, using both an industry-based and a market-based analysis. The company then gathers information on competitors' objectives, strategies, strengths and weaknesses, and reaction patterns. With this information in hand, it can select competitors to attack or avoid. Competitive intelligence must be collected, interpreted, and distributed continuously. Company marketing managers should be able to obtain full and reliable information about any competitor affecting their decisions.

Benchmarking 519 Competitive advantage 516 Competitive marketing strategy 516 Competitor analysis 516

Competitor-centered company 534 Customer-centered company 534 Customer value analysis 520

Explain the fundamentals of competitive marketing strategies based on creating value for customers. Which competitive marketingstrategy makes the most sense depends on the company's industry and on whether it is a market leader, challenger, follower, or nicher. A market leader must mount strategies to expand the total market, protect market share, and expand market share. A market challenger is a firm that tries aggressively to expand its market share by attacking the leader, other runner-up companies, or smaller firms in the industry. The challenger can select from a variety of direct or indirect attack strategies. A market follower is a runner-up firm that chooses not to rock the boat, usually from fear that it stands to lose more than it might gain. But the follower is not without a strategy and seeks to use its particular skills to gain market growth. Some followers enjoy a higher rate of return than the leaders in their industry. A market nicher is a smaller firm that is unlikely to attract the attention of larger firms. Market nichers often become specialists in some end use, customer size, specific customer, geographic area, or sewice. Illustrate the need for balancing customer and competitor orientations in becoming a truly market-centered organization. A competitive orientation is important in today's markets, but companies should not overdo their focus on competitors. Companies are more likely to be hurt by emerging consumer needs and new competitors than by existing competitors. Market-centered companies that balance consumer and competitor considerationsare practicinga true market orientation.

Market-centered company 534 Market challenger 527 Market follower 527

Market leader 527 Market nicher 527 Strategic group 518

Discount retailer Target is attempting to identify its competitors but wants to avoid competitor myopia. Name some of its potential competitors from both an industry and market point of view.

4. Apply Treacy and Wiersema's value disciplines to online search engines. Identify a company that competes according to each discipline.

Why is it important to understand competitor's objectives?

5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a market-nicher competitive strategy?

What is the difference between entrepreneurial, formulated, and intrepreneurial marketing? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

6. Why is it important for a company to maintain a balance between customer and competitor orientations?

Appwing the Concepts 1. Form a small group and conduct a customer-value analysis for five local restaurants. Who are the strong and weak competitors?For the strong competitors, what are their vulnerabilities? 2. Dell is the leader in the notebook market, with HP threateningits market share. What are some potential rnarket-leader strategies for Dell?

In 1923, Arthur Charles Nielsen introduced consumer marketers to many innovative research methods and techniques. Today, ACNielsen provides market intelligence for most of the world's leading manufacturers and

3. Tiffany & Co. is a high-profile firm in the luxury retail jewelry market. Visit www.tiffany.com/about/l'imeline.aspx and review the Tiffany historical timeline for important events. What is Tiffany & Co.'s dominant marketing strategy?Explain.

retailers. Its sister company, Nielsen Media Research, is the global leader in television audience measurement and provides the well-known television "Nielsen Ratings." Visit ACNielsen at www.acnielsen.com to find its

.

53 6

-

Part 4 Extending Marketing

retail measurement services. The retail measurement service provides consolidated register scanner data from most retail channels, including supermarkets, drugstores, mass merchandisers, and warehouse clubs. In addition to the register data, Nielsen also uses in-store observation to gather data on in-store promotions. Clients can download reports on a daily basis that track sales volume, selling price, observed promotion, and other data points. The information is provided on a company's own

brands as well as competitive brands and is easily examined by brand, category, store, or market.

Competitive intelligence offers strong advantages in the area of product development. Knowingthe competitor's progress on products, processes, and technology is highly beneficial in competitive markets. A trade secret, informationthat creates value for a company because it remains a secret, often creates strong competitor curiosity. Companies sometimes go to great lengths to uncover such secrets. They develop creative techniques to access information, sometimes pushing legal and ethical boundaries. One widely used technique is observation. Observational methods include aerial photography of manufacturing plants, dumpster diving to analyze discarded products and materials, and plant tours. One documented case involves a visit in the 1970s by Steve Jobs and other Apple executives to a Xerox research center. During the tour, Apple executives asked many probing questions about a new technology they observed. After leaving with some proprietary information, Apple subsequently hired some of the Xerox employees to further develop the technology at Apple. Apple's behavior would not be considered illegal.

According to The Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) of 1985, which attempts to offer some protection for trade secrets, legal protection does not hold if a company did not take reasonable attempts to protect its secrets.

Nike's mission statement is "to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world." That's a substantial goal-one goal made even more sizable when you consider that Nike believes that "if you have a body, you're an athlete." Despite the lofty nature of the mission, Nike has made considerable strides in its effort to fulfill it. The Nike swoosh is so ubiquitous in today's market that it may be difficult to believe the symbol appeared just 35 years ago. Since that time, Nike has become the largest sports and fitness company in the world, and 97 percent of Americans recognize the swoosh. The Nike brand succeeds by staying true to its core values and delivering consistently high-quality, cutting-edge products that appeal to the athlete in all of us, building strong relationships with customers based on real value. By making innovation the centerpiece of its product development and marketing strategy, the Nike brand has become the market

leader, reaching millions of consumers around the globe and raking in annual revenues totaling $15 billion. After viewing the video featuring Nike, answer the following questions about creating competitive advantage.

d: teams to strengthen its relationships with consumers?

In April of 2006, Forrester Research announced the results of its semiannual survey ranking consumer electronics and personal computer companies on consumer trust. Based on a poll of more than 4,700 customers as to their opinions of 22 of the best-known consumer technology brands, the company drew this conclusion: "Americans' trust in consumer technology companies is eroding."

Why is consumer trust important? Forrester vice president Ted Schadler answered that question this way: "Trust is a powerful way to measure a brand's value and its ability to command a premium price or drive consumers into a higher-profit direct channel. A decline in trust causes brand erosion and price-driven purchase decisions, which in turn correlates with low market growth."

1. How can a marketer use this to analyze its competitors? 2. How might a market leader such as Procter & Gamble react to increased sales of a store's private brand?

3. What might be a disadvantage of using Nielsen data?

1. Give some examples of the information that might be gleaned from aerial photography of a competitor's plant. 2. Google the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and scan its contents. What else do you observe about this legislation?

3. The Apple incident may not have been illegal, but was it unethical? See: William Fitzpatrick, "Uncovering Trade Secrets: The Legal and Ethical Conundrum of Creative Competitive Intelligence," S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal, Summer 2003, p. 4; and Jim Dalrymple, "Apple Loses Rumor-Site Appeal," MacWorld, August 2006, Vol. 23, Issue 8, p. 18.

1. In the broadest sense, who are Nike's generic competitors?Who are Nike's direct competitors? What competitive strategy does Nike em ploy? 2. What market leader strategies does Nike rely on to maintain its market position? Identify a competitor pursuing a niche in Nike's market. How do the actions of that competitor benefit Nike? How do they challenge Nike's market share and positioning?

3. How does Nike use partnerships with professional athletes and

..'.

But despite the decline in trust for most technology companies, Forrester made another surprising finding. Consumer trust in the Bose Corporation was riding high. In fact, Bose far outscored all other companies in Forrester's survey. Not bad, considering that it was the first time the company had been included in the survey. Forrester pointed out that these results were no fluke, noting that Bose has 10 million regular users but more than 1 7 million consumers who aspire to use the brand (compared to 7 million for next-highest Apple). These high levels of consumer trust result from philosophies that have guided Bose for more than 40 years. Most companies today focus heavily on building revenue, profits, and stock price. They try to outdo the competition by differentiating product lines with features and attributes that other companies do not have. Although Bose pays attention to such factors, its true differentiation derives from the company's unique corporate philosophy.

Y You can't understand Bose the company without taking a look at Bose the man. Amar Bose, the company's founder and still its CEO, has been in charge from the start. In the 1950s, Bose was working on his third degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had a keen interest in research and studied various areas of electrical engineering. He also had a strong interest in music. When he purchased his first hi-fi system-a model that he believed had the best specifications-he was very disappointed in the system's ability to reproduce realistic sound. So he set out to find his own solution. Thus began a stream of research that would ultimately lead to the founding of the Bose Corporation in 1964. From those early days, Amar Bose worked around certain core principles that have guided the philosophy of the company. In conducting his first research on speakers and sound, he did something that has since been repeated time and time again at Bose. He ignored existing technologies and started entirely from scratch. Bose president Bob Maresca provides insights on the company today that date back to Amar Bose's original philosophy: "We are not in it strictly to make money," he says. "Dr. Bose is extremely eclectic in his research interests. The business is almost a secondary consideration." For this reason, Amar Bose plows all of the privately held company's profits back into research. This practice reflects his avid love of research and his belief that it will produce the highest-quality products. But he also does this because he can Bose has been quoted many times saying, "if I worked for another company, I would have been fired a long time ago," pointing to the fact that publicly held companies have long lists of constraints that don't apply to his privately held company. For this reason, Bose has always vowed that he will never take the company public. "Going public for me would have been the equivalent of losing the company. My real interest is research-that's the excitement-and I wouldn't have been able to do long-term projects with Wall Street breathing down my neck."

This commitment to research and development has led to the high level of trust that Bose customers have for the company. It also explains their almost cultlike loyalty. Customers know that the company cares more about their best interests-about making the best product-than about maximizing profits. But for a company not driven by the bottom line, Bose does just fine. Although performance figures are tightly held, analysts estimate that between 2004 and 2006, the company's revenues increased more than 38 percent, from $1.3 billion to over $1.8 billion. According to market information firm NPD Group, Bose leads the market in home speakers with a 12.6 percent share. Not only were home speakers the company's original product line, but they remain one of its largest and most profitable endeavors.

The company that started so humbly now has a breadth of product lines beyond its core home audio line. Additional lines target a variety of applications that have captured Amar Bose's creative attention over the years, including military, automotive, homebuilding/remodeling, aviation, test equipment, and professional and commercial sound systems. The following are just a few the products that illustrate the innovative breakthroughs produced by the company. Speakers Bose's first product, introduced 1965, was a speaker. Expecting to sell $1 million worth of speakers that first year, Bose made 60 but sold only 40. The original Bose speaker evolved into the 901 DirectIReflecting speaker system launched in 1968. The speaker was so technologically advanced that the company still sells it today. The system was designed around the concept that live sound reaches the human ear via direct as well as reflected channels (off walls, ceilings, and other objects). The configuration of the speakers was completely unorthodox. They were shaped like an eighth of a sphere and mounted facing into a room's corner. The speakers had no woofers or tweeters and were very small compared to the high-end speakers of the day. The design came much closer to the essence and emotional impact of live music than anything else on the market and won immediate industry acclaim. However, Bose had a hard time convincing customers of the merits of these innovative speakers. At a time when woofers, tweeters, and size were everything, the 901 series initially flopped. In 1968, a retail salesman explained to Amar Bose why the speakers weren't selling:

"Look, I love your speaker but I cannot sell it because it makes me lose all my credibility as a salesman. I can't explain to anyone why the 901 doesn't have any woofers or tweeters. A man came in and saw the small size, and he started looking in the drawers for the speaker cabinets. I walked over to him, and he said, 'Where are you hiding the woofer?' I said to him, 'There is no woofer.' So he said, 'You're a liar,' and he walked out." (case continues)

Chapter 18 Creating Competitive Advantage

53 7

Bose eventually worked through the challenges of communicating the virtues of the 901 series to customers through innovative display and demonstration tactics. The product became so successful that Amar Bose now credits the 901 series for building the company. The list of major speaker innovations at Bose is a long one. In 1975, the company introduced concertlike sound in the bookshelf-size 301 DirectIReflecting speaker system. Fourteen years of research lead to the 1984 development of acoustic waveguide speaker technology, a technology found today in the award-winning Wave radio, Wave music system, and Acoustic Wave music system. In 1986, the company again changed conventional thinking about the relationship between speaker size and sound. The Acoustimass system enabled palm-size speakers to produce audio quality equivalent to that of high-end systems many times their size. The technological basis of the Acoustimass system is still in use in Bose products today. Headphones Bob Maresca recalls that, "Bose invested tens of millions of dollars over 19 years developing headset technology before making a profit. Now, headsets are a major part of the business." Initially, Bose focused on noise reduction technologies to make headphones for pilots that would block out the high level of noise interference from planes. Bose headphones combined both passive and active noise reduction methods. Passive methods involve physically blocking out noise with sound-deadening insulation. Active methods are much more complex, involving circuitry that samples ambient noise and then cancels it out by creating sound waves opposite to the "noise" waves. Bose quickly discovered that airline passengers could benefit as much as pilots from its headphone technology. Today, Bose sells its QuietComfort and Triport headphone lines for use in a variety of consumer applications. Automotive Suspensions Another major innovation at Bose has yet to be introduced. The company has been conducting research since 1980 on a product outside of its known areas of expertise: automotive suspensions. Amar Bose's interest in suspensions dates back to the 1950s when he bought both a Citroen DS-19 C and a Pontiac Bonneville, each riding on unconventional air suspension systems. Since that time, he's been obsessed with the engineering challenge of achieving good cornering capabilities without sacrificing a smooth ride. The Bose Corporation is now on the verge of introducing a suspension that it believes will accomplish this feat better than any system to date. The basics of the system include an electromagnetic motor installed at each wheel. Based on inputs from roadsensing monitors, the motor can retract and extend almost instantaneously. If there is a bump in the road, the suspension reacts by "jumping" over it. If there is a pothole, the suspension allows the wheel to extend downward, but then retracts it quickly enough that the pothole is not felt. In . addition to these comfort-producing capabilities, the wheel

538

Part 4

Extending Marketing

motors are strong enough to prevent the car from rolling and pitching during an aggressive maneuver. The suspension system has been designed so that it can be bolted right onto the chassis of current production cars, thus minimizing both time and expense for manufacturers. Initially, the cost of the system will put it in the class of luxury automobiles. Currently, Bose is demonstrating the system only to a handful of companies, with the intention of partnering with one manufacturer before rolling it out to others. Eventually, Bose anticipates that wider adoption and higher volume will bring the price down to the point where the suspension could be found in all but the least expensive cars. At an age when most people have long ago retired, 76year-old Amar Bose works every day, either at the company's headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts, or at his home in nearby Wayland. "He's got more energy than an 18-yearold," says Maresca. "Every one of the naysayers only strengthens his resolve." This work ethic illustrates the Ijassion of the man who has shaped one of today's most innovative and yet most trusted companies. His philosophies have produced Bose's long list of groundbreaking innovations. Even now, as the company prepares to enter the world of automotive suspensions, it continues to achieve success by following another one of Dr. Bose's basic philosophies: "The potential size of the market? We really have no idea. We just know that we have a technology that's so different and so much better that many people will want it."

Questionsfor Discussion Based on the business philosophies of Amar Bose, how do you think the Bose Corporation goes about analyzing its competition? Which of the text's three approaches to marketing strategy best describes Bose's approach? Using the Michael Porter and Treacy and Wiersema frameworks presented in the text, which basic competitive marketing strategies does Bose pursue? What is Bose's competitive position in its industry? Do its marketing strategies match this position? In your opinion, is Bose a customer-centric company? What do you think will happen when Amar Bose leaves the company? Sources: Brian Dumaine, "Amar Bose," Fortune Small Business, September 1, 2004, accessed online at www.money.cnn.com/ magazines/fsb/; Olga Kharif, "Selling Sound: Bose Knows," Business Week Online, May 15, 2006, accessed online at www.businessweek.com; Mark Jewell, "Bose Tries to Shake Up Auto Industry," Associated Press, November 27, 2005; "Bose Introduces New QuietComfort 3 Acoustic Noise-Cancelling Headphones," Business Wire,June 8 , 2006; "Forrester Research Reveals the Most Trusted Consumer Technology Brands," press release accessed online at www.forrester.com; also see, "About Bose," accessed online at www.bose.com, June, 2006.

place. Today, almost every firm, large or small, faces international marketing issues. I n this chapter, we w i l l examine six maior decisions marketers make i n

hat could be more American than basketball?The sport was invented in the United States, and each year tens of millions of excited fans crowd their local gyms or huddle around their television sets to cheer on their favorite rec league, high school, college, or pro teams. But basketball is rapidly becoming a worldwide craze. Although soccer remains the number-one sport in most of the world, basketball-that's right, basketball-is a solid number two. Lots of companies are going global these days, but few organizations are doing it better than the National Basketball Association (NBA). During the past two decades, under the leadership of Commissioner David Stern, the NBA has become a truly global marketing enterprise. Nowhere was this more apparent than in last year's NBA finals, which were televised to more than 205 countries in 39 languages, from Armenian, Belorussian, Lithuanian, and Norwegian to Arabic, Cantonese, and Macedonian. In fact, as much as 20 percent of the NBA's $900 million in annual N revenues now comes from international markers. More than half the hits on NBA.com, which now features nine country sites in seven languages, originate outside the United States. And 25 percent of all NBA-licensed basketballs, jerseys, backboards, and other merchandise is sold internationally. The NBA has become a powerful worldwide brand. A Fortune article summarizes: Deployed by global sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Reebok, and McDonald's, well-paid [NBA superstars] hawk soda, sneakers, burgers, and basketball to legions of mostly young fans [worldwidel. hat they are recognized from Santiago to Seoul says a lot about the soaring worldwide appeal of hoopsand about th~;.marketingjuggernaut known as the NBA. After watching their favorite stars thekeyboard slides out of the way when not in use. Siemens is a particularly formidabl'e'competitor in European markets. Despite this strong competition, Sonic can carve out a definite image and gain recognition among the targeted segments. Our voice-recognition system for hands-off operation is a critical point of differentiation for competitive advantage. Also, offering GPS as a standard feature gives our product a competitive edge compared with PDAs in the same general price range. Moreover, our product runs the Linux OS, which is an appealing alternative for customers concerned about security. Table A12 shows a selection of competitive PDA products and prices.

Distribution review In this section, marketers list the most important channels, provide an overview of each channel arrangement, and mention any new developments or trends.

Sonic-branded products will be distributed through a network of retailers in the top 50 U.S. markets. Among the most important channel partners being contacted are: Office supply superstores. Office Max and Staples will both carry Sonic products in stores, in catalogs, and online.

Appendix 1

Selected PDA Products and Pricing

Marketing Plan

Competitor

Model

Features

Palm

Treo 700

HewlettPackard

i PAQ hw6500

Samsung

i730 PDA phone

RIM

BlackBerry 8700c

Siemens

SX66

PDA functions, camera and phone, streaming audio/video, music downloads, Bluetooth connection, high-resolution screen, model P runs Palm OS, model W runs Windows PDA functions, backlit keyboard, Bluetooth connection, GPS included, built-in camera, memory slot, wireless radio and messaging capabilities, Windows OS PDA functions, built-in cell phone, Wi-Fi Web access, Bluetooth connection, sl ide-out keyboard, voice dialing, music streaming and downloads, video playback, Windows OS PDA functions, wireless e-mail and phone functions, multimedia messaging, Bluetooth connection, ergonomic keyboard, light-sensing screen, lightweight (4.7 ounces) PDA functions, Wi-Fi and phone functions, handwriting-recognition dialing, slide-out keyboard, Bluetooth connection, Windows OS, relatively heavy (7.4 ounces)

A-5

Price

Computer stores. CompUSA will carry Sonic products. Electronics specialty stores. Circuit City and Best Buy will carry Sonic PDAs. Online retailers. Amazon.com will carry Sonic PDAs and, for a promotional fee, will give Sonic prominent placement on its home page during the introduction. Although distribution will initially be restricted to the United States, we plan to expand into Canada and beyond, according to demand. We will emphasize trade sales promotion in Tthe first year.

Sonic has several powerful strengths on which to build, but our major weakness is lack of brand awareness and image. The major opportunity is demand for multimedia PDAs that deliver a number of valued benefits, eliminating the need for customers to carry more than one device. We also face the threat of ever-higher competition from consumer electronics manufacturers, as well as downward pricing pressure. Table A1.3 summarizes Sonic's main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Sonic's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

Strengths Innovative combination of functions operated hands-free in one portable device =Value pricing @Securitydue to Linux-based operating system

Weaknesses Lack of brand awareness and image Heavier than most competing models

Opportunities Increased demand for multimedia models with diverse functions and benefits a Lower technology costs --- ---.--- ----

Threats Intense competition B Downward pricing pressure Compressed product life

"

"

2

^-_

.

;

_

.

.

_

-_

._ -- .

_ l

-.- - . --- -

8-6

Appendix 1 Marketing Plan

Strengths Strengths are internal capabilities that can help the company reach its objectives.

Sonic can build on three important strengths: 1. Innovative product. The Sonic 1000 combines a variety of features that would other-

wise require customers to carry multiple devices; these include cell phone and wireless e-mail functionality, GPS capability, and digital video/music storage and playback-all with hands-free operation. 2 . Security. Our PDA uses a Linux-based operating system that is less vulnerable to hackers and other security threats that can result in stolen or corrupted data. 3. Pricing. Our product is priced lower than competing multifunction models-none of which 6ffer the same bundle of features-which gives us an edge with price-conscious customers.

Weaknesses Weaknesses are internal elements that may interfere with the company's ability to achieve its objectives.

By waiting to enter the PDA market until considerable consolidation of competitors has occurred, Sonic has learned from the successes and mistakes of others. Nonetheless, we have two main weaknesses: 1. Lack of brand awareness. Sonic has not yet established a brand or image in the market-

place, whereas Palm and others have strong brand recognition. We will address this area with promotion. 2. Heavier weight. The Sonic 1000 is slightly heavier than most competing models because it incorporates multiple features and a sizable hard drive. To counteract this weakness, we will emphasize our unique combination of features and our value-added pricing, two compelling competitive strengths.

Opportunities Opportunities are external elements that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage.

. Threats

Threats are current or emerging external elements that may possibly challenge the company's performance.

Sonic can take advantage of two major market opportunities: 1. Increasing demand for multimedia models with multiple functions. The market for mul-

timedia, multifunction devices is growing much faster than the market for single-use devices. Customers are now accustomed to seeing users with PDAs in work and educational settings, which is boosting primary demand. Also, customers who bought entrylevel models are replacing older models with more-advanced models. 2. Lower technology costs. Better technology is now available at a lower cost than ever before. Thus, Sonic can incorporate technically advanced features at a value-added price that allows for reasonable profits.

Tllre&tg We face three main threats at the introduction of the Sonic 1000: 1. Increased competition. More companies are entering the U.S. PDA market with models

that offer some but not all of the features and benefits provided by Sonic's PDA. Therefore, Sonic's marketing corprgunications must stress our clear differentiation and c1 value-added pricing. 2 . Downward pressure on pricing. Increased competition and market-share strategies are pushing PDA prices down. Still, our objective of seeking a 10 percent profit on secondyear sales of the original model is realistic, given the lower margins in the PDA market. 3. Compressed product life cycle. PDAs have reached the maturity stage of their life cycle more quickly than earlier technology products. We have contingency plans to keep sales growing by adding new features, targeting additional segments, and adjusting prices. '

Objectives and issues The company's objectives should be defined in specific terms so management can measure progress and, if needed, take corrective action to stay on track. This section describes any major issues that might affect the company's marketing strategy and implementation.

Objectives and Issues We have set aggressive but achievable objectives for the first and second years of market entry.

First-par 8.lj eef hes During the Sonic 1000's initial year on the market, we are aiming for a 3 percent share of the U.S. PDA market through unit sales volume of 240,000.

Appendix 1 Marketing Plan

A-7

Our second-year objectives are to achieve a 6 percent share based on sales of two models and to achieve break-even early in this period.

In relation to the product launch, our major issue is the ability to establish a well-regarded brand name linked to a meaningful positioning. We must invest heavily in marketing to create a memorable and distinctive brand image projecting innovation, quality, and value. We also must measure awareness and response so we can adjust our marketing efforts as necessary.

arbeting Strategy Sonic's marketing strategy is based on a positioning of product differentiation. Our primary consumer target is middle- to upper-income professionals who need one portable device to coordinate their busy schedules, communicate with family and colleagues, get driving directions, and be entertained on the go. Our secondary consumer target is high school, college, and graduate students who want a multimedia device. This segment can be described demographically by age (16-30) and education status. Our primary business target is mid- to large-sized corporations that want to help their managers and employees stay in touch and input or access critical data when out of the office. This segment consists of companies with more than $25 million in annual sales and more than 100 employees. A secondary business target is entrepreneurs and small-business owners. We are also targeting medical users who want to reduce paperwork and update or access patients' medical records.

A positioning built on meaningful differences, supported by appropriate and can help the company build corn~etitiveadvantage.

-

Marketing tools ~h~~~sections the broad logic that lli,,,, guide decisions made about the tools to be used in the Deriodcovered ,b, the plan.

Using product differentiation, we are positioning the Sonic PDA as the most versatile, convenient, value-added model for personal and professional use. The marketing strategy will focus on the hand-free operation of multiple communication, entertainment, and information capabilities differentiating the Sonic 1000.

s$~a~$ej"-7 -'pxq~&l;~~$j G.2 The Sonic 1000, including all the features described in the earlier Product Review section, will be sold with a one-year warranty. We will introduce a more compact, powerhl high-end model (the Sonic 2000) during the following year. Building the Sonic brand is an integral part of our product strategy. The brand and logo (Sonic's distinctive yellow thunderbolt) will be displayed on the product and its packaging and reinforced by its prominence in the introductory marketing campaign.

The Sonic 1000 will be introduced at $250 wholesale/$350 estimated retail price per unit. We expect to lower the price of this first model when we expand the product line by launching the Sonic 2000, to be priced at $350 wholesale per unit. These prices reflect a strategy of (I) attracting desirable channel partners and (2) taking share from Palm and other established competitors.

Our channel strategy is to use selective distribution, marketing Sonic PDAs through wellknown stores and online retailers. During the first year, we will add channel partners until we have coverage in all major U.S. markets and the product is included in the major electronics catalogs and Web sites. We will also investigate distribution through cell-phone outlets maintained by major carriers such as Cingular Wireless. In support of our channel partners, Sonic will provide demonstration products, detailed specification handouts, and full-color photos and displays featuring the product. We will also arrange special trade terms for retailers that place volume orders.

Appendix 1 Marketing Plan

By integrating all messages in all media, we will reinforce the brand name and the main points of product differentiation. Research about media consumption patterns will help our advertising agency choose appropriate media and timing to reach prospects before and during product introduction. Thereafter, advertising will appear on a pulsing basis to maintain brand awareness and communicate various differentiation messages. The agency will also coordinate public relations efforts to build the Sonic brand and support the differentiation message. To attract customer attention and encourage purchasing, we will offer as a limited-time premium a leather carry-case. To attract, retain, and motivate channel partners for a push strategy, we will use trade sales promotions and personal selling. Until the Sonic brand has been established, our communications will encourage purchases through channel partners rather than from our Web site. Marketing research Management should explain in this section how marketing research will be used to support development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies and action programs.

Using research, we are identifying the specific features and benefits that our target market segments value. Feedback kom market tests, surveys, and focus groups will help us develop the Sonic 2000. We are also measuring and analyzing customers' attitudes toward competing brands and products. Brand awareness research will help us determine the effectiveness and efficiency of our messages and media. Finally, we will use customer satisfaction studies to gauge market reaction.

Marketing organization The marketing department may be organized by function, as in this sample, by geography, by product, or by customer (or some combination).

Action programs Action programs should be coordinated with the resources and activities of other departments, including production, finance, purchasing, etc.

Sonic's marketing organization

Sonic's chief marketing officer, Jane Melody, holds overall responsibility for all of the company's marketing activities. Figure A l . l shows the structure of the eight-person marketing organization. Sonic has hired Worldwide Marketing to handle national sales campaigns, trade and consumer sales promotions, and public relations efforts.

The Sonic 1000 will be introduced in February. Following are summaries of the action programs we will use during the first six months of next year to achieve our stated objectives.

January We will initiate a $200,000 trade sales promotion campaign to educate dealers and generate excitement for the product launch in February. We will exhibit at the major consumer electronics trade shows, Webcast the product launch, and provide samples to selected product reviewers, opinion leaders, and celebrities as part of our public relations strategy. Our training staff will work with sales personnel at major retail chains to explain the Sonic 1000'~features, benefits, and competitive advantages.

Appendix 1

Marketing Plan

8-9

February We will start an integrated print/radio/Internet campaign targeting professionals and consumers. The campaign will show how many functions the Sonic PDA can perform and emphasize the convenience of a single, powerful handheld device. This multimedia campaign will be supported by point-of-sale signage as well as online-only specials. March As the multimedia advertising campaign continues, we will add consumer sales promotion tactics such as giving away leather carry-cases as a premium. We will also distribute new point-of-purchase displays to support our retailers. April We will hold a trade sales contest offering prizes for the salesperson and retail organization that sells the most Sonic PDAs during the four-week period. May We plan to roll out a new national advertising campaign this month. The radio ads will feature celebrity voices telling their Sonic PDAs to perform functions such as initiating a phone call, sending an e-mail, playing a song or video, and so on. The print ads will show these celebrities holding their Sonic.PDAs. June Our radio campaign will add a new voice-over tag line promoting the Sonic 1000 as a graduation gift. We will also exhibit at the semiannual electronics trade show and provide channel partners with new competitive comparison handouts as a sales aid. In addition, we will tally and analyze the results of customer satisfaction surveys for use in future promotions and to provide feedback for product and marketing activities. Budgets Budgets serve two main purposes: to project profitability and to help managers plan for expenditures, scheduling, and operations related to each action program

Total first-year sales revenue for the Sonic 1000 is projected at $60 million, with an average wholesale price of $250 per unit and variable cost per unit of $150 for unit sales volume of 240,000. We anticipate a first-year loss of up to $10 million on the Sonic 1000 model. Breakeven calculations indicate that the Sonic 1000 will become profitable after the sales volume exceeds 267,500, early in the product's second year. Our break-even analysis of Sonic's first PDA product assumes per-unit wholesale revenue of $250 per unit, variable cost of $150 per unit, and estimated first-year fixed costs of $26,750,000. Based on these assumptions, the break-even calculation is: 26'750y000 = 267,500 units

$250 - $150

Controls

440d&l-&

Controis management assess results after the plan is

We are planning tight control measures to closely monitor quality and customer service satisfaction. This will enable us to react quickly in correcting any problems that may occur. Other early warning signals that will be monitored for signs of deviation from the plan include monthly sales (by segment and channel) and monthly expenses. Given the PDA market's volatility, we are developing contingency plans to address fast-moving environmental changes such as new technology and new competition.

identih' problems Or performance variations, and initiate corrective action.

Prentice Hall offers two valuable resources to assist you in developing a marketing plan: fa The Marketing Plan Handbook by Marian Burk Wood explains the process of creating a

marketing plan, complete with detailed checklists and dozens of real-world examples. Marketing Plan Pro is an award-winning software package that includes sample plans, step-by-step guides, an introductory video, help wizards, and custornizable charts for documenting a marketing plan.

Sources: Background information and market data adaptid from "Palm 'Hiccup' Highlights EU Enviro Regulations," RCR Wireless News, July 10, 2006, p. 6; Arik Hesseldahl, "The Swarm of Killer PDAs," Businessweek, May 15, 2006, p. 100; Pui-Wing Tam, "The Hand-Helds Strike Back," Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2005, pp. D l , D6; Michael V. Copeland, Om Malik, and Rafe Needleman, "The Next Big Thing," Business 2.0, July 2003, pp. 62-69; "2005 PDA Shipments Set Record," Business Communications Review, April 2006, p. 6; "Smartphone Market Grows Fast Despite Challenges," Appliance, March 2006, p. 16; and Sean Ginevan, "A New PDA Is Born," Network Compufing,July 6, 2006, p. 19.

Marketing decisions are coming under increasing scrutiny, and marketing managers must be accountable for the financial implications of their actions. This appendix provides a basic introduction to marketing financial analysis. Such analysis guides marketers in making sound marketing decisions and in assessing the outcomes of those decisions. The appendix is built around a hypothetical manufacturer of high-definition consumer electronics products-HDX-treme. This company is launching a new product, and we will discuss and analyze the various decisions HDX-treme's marketing managers must make before and after launch. HDX-treme manufactures high-definition televisions for the consumer market. The company has concentrated on televisions but is now entering the accessories market. Specifically, the company is introducing a high-definition optical disc player (DVD) using the Blu-ray format. The appendix is organized into three sections. The first section deals with the pricing considerations and break-even and margin analysis assessments that gulde the introduction of HDX-treme's new-product launch. The second section begins with a discussion of estimating market potential and company sales. It then introduces the marketing budget, as illustrated through a pro forma profit-and-loss statement followed by the actual profit-and-loss statement. Next, the section discusses marketing performance measures, with a focus on helping marketing managers to better defend their decisions from a financial perspective: In the final section, we analyze the financial implications of various marketing tactics, such as increasing advertising expenditures, adding sales representatives to increase distribution, lowering price, or extending the product line. At the end of each section, quantitative exercises provide you with an opportunity to apply the concepts you learned in that section to contexts beyond KDX-treme.

Pricing Considerations Determining price is one of the most important marketing-mix decisions, and marketers have considerable leeway when setting prices. The limiting factors are demand and costs. Demand factors, such as buyer-perceived value, set the price ceiling. The company's costs set the price floor. In between these two factors, marketers must consider competitors' prices and other factors such as reseller requirements, government regulations, and company objectives. Current competing high-definition DVD products in this relatively new product category were introduced in 2006 and sell at retail prices between $500 and $1,200. HDX-treme plans to introduce its new product at a lower price in order to expand the market and to gain market share rapidly. We first consider HDX-treme's pricing decision from a cost perspective. Then, we consider consumer value, the competitive environment, and reseller requirements. --

JJetep:m-inin~ 5 &&s

Fixed costs Costs that do not vary with production or sales level.

Recall from Chapter 10 that there are different types of costs. Fixed costs do not vary with production or sales level and include costs such as rent, interest, depreciation, and clerical and management salaries. Regardless of the level of output, the company must pay these costs. Whereas total fixed costs remain constant as output increases, the fixed cost per unit (or average fixed cost) will decrease as output increases because the total fixed costs are spread across

A-12

Appendix 2

Marketing by the Numbers

Variable costs Costs that vary directly with the level of production.

Total costs The sum of the fixed and variable costs for any given level of production.

Cost-plus pricing (or markup pricing) Adding a standard markup to the cost of the product.

more units of output. Variable costs vary directly with the level of production and include costs related to the direct production of the product (such as costs of goods sold-COGS) and many of the marketing costs associated with selling it. Although these costs tend to be uniform for each unit produced, they are called variable because their total varies with the number of units produced. Total costs are the sum of the fixed and variable costs for any given level of production. HDX-treme has invested $10 million in refurbishing an existing facility to manufacture the new DVD product. Once production begins, the company estimates that it will incur fixed costs of $20 million per year. The variable cost to produce each DVD player is estimated to be , $250 and is expected to remain at that level for the output capacity of the facility.

HDX-treme starts with the cost-based approach to pricing discussed in Chapter 10. Recall that the simplest method, cost-plus pricing (or markup pricing), simply adds a standard markup to the cost of the product. To use this method, however, HDX-treme must specify an expected unit sales so that total unit costs can be determined. Unit variable costs will remain constant regardless of the output, but average unit fixed costs will decrease as output increases. To illustrate this method, suppose HDX-treme has fixed costs of $20 million, variable costs of $250 per unit, and expects unit sales of 1million units. Thus, the cost per DVD player is given by: Unit cost = variable cost

Relevant costs Costs that will occur in the futureand that will vary across the alternatives being considered.

Break-even price The price at which total revenue equals total cost and profit is zero.

A cost-based pricing method that determines price based on a specified rate of return on investment.

+

$20,000,000 - $270 1,000,000

Note that we do not include the initial investment of $10 million in the total fixed cost figure. It is not considered a fixed cost because it is not a relevant cost. Relevant costs are those that will occur in the future and that will vary across the alternatives being considered. HDX-treme's investment to refurbish the manufacturing facility was a one-time cost that will not reoccur in the future. Such past costs are sunk costs and should not be considered in future analyses. Also notice that if HDX-treme sells its DVD player for $270, the price is equal to the total cost per unit. This is the break even p r i c e t h e price at which unit revenue (price) equals unit cost and profit is zero. Suppose HDX-treme does not want to merely break even but rather wants to earn a 25% markup on sales. HDX-treme's markup price is:l Markup price

Return on investment (ROI) pricing (or target-return pricing)

costs = S250 + fixed unit sales

=

$270 unit cost - $360 ( 1 - desired return on sales) - 1 - .25

This is the price that HDX-treme would sell the DVD player to resellers such as wholesalers or retailers to earn a 25% profit on sales. Another approach HDX-treme could use is called return on investment (ROI) pricing (or target-return pricing). In this case, the company would consider the initial $10 million investment, but only to determine the dollar profit goal. Suppose the company wants a 30% return on its investment. The price necessary to satisfy this requirement can be deter., mined < 7

ROI price = unit cost

X investment = $270 + ROI unit sales

+

0.3X $10,000,000 = $273 1,000,000

That is, if HDX-treme sells its DVD players for $273 each, it will realize a 30% return on its initial investment of $10 million. In these pricing calculations, unit cost is a function of the expected sales, which were estimated to be 1million units. But what if actual sales were lower? Then the unit cost would be higher because the fixed costs would be spread over fewer units, and the realized percentage markup on sales or ROI would be lower. Alternatively, if sales are higher than the estimated 1million units, unit cost would be lower than $270, so a lower price would produce the desired markup on sales or ROI. It's important to note that these cost-based pricing methods are internally focused and do not consider demand, competitors' prices, or reseller requirements. Because HDX-treme will be selling these DVD players to consumers through wholesalers and retailers offering competing brands, the company must consider markup pricing &om this perspective.

Appendix 2

Markup The difference between a company's selling price for a product and its cost to manufacture or purchase it.

Marketing by the Numbers

A-13

Whereas costs determine the price floor, HDX-treme also must consider external factors when setting price. HDX-treme does not have the final say concerning the final price to consumersretailers do. So it must start with its suggested retail price and work back. In doing so, HDXtreme must consider the markups required by resellers that sell the product to consumers. In general, a dollar markup is the difference between a company's selling price for a product and its cost to manufacture or purchase it. For a retailer, then, the markup is the difference between the price it charges consumers and the cost the retailer must pay for the product. Thus, for any level of reseller: Dollar markup

=

selling price - cost

Markups are usually expressed as a percentage, and there are two different ways to compute markups-on cost or on selling price: Markup percentage on cost

=

dollar markup cost

Markup percentage on selling price =

Value-based pricing Offering just the right combination of quality and good service at a fair price.

Markup chain The sequence of markups used by firms at each level in a channel.

dollar markup selling price

To apply reseller margin analysis, HDX-treme must first set the suggested retail price and then work back to the price at which it must sell the DVD player to a wholesaler. Suppose retailers expect a 30% margin and wholesalers want a 20% margin based on their respective selling prices. And suppose that HDX-treme sets a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $599.99 for its high-definition DVD player. Recall that HDX-treme wants to expand the market by pricing low and generating market share quickly. HDX-treme selected the $599.99 MSRP because it is much lower than most competitors' prices, which can be as high as $1,200. And the company's research shows that it is below the threshold at which more consumers are willing to purchase the product. By using buyers' perceptions of value and not the seller's cost to determine the MSRP, HDXtreme is using value-based pricing. For simplicity, we will use an MSRP of $600 in further analyses. To determine the price HDX-treme will charge wholesalers, we must first subtract the retailer's margin hom the retail price to determine the retailer's cost ($600 - ($600 X 0.30) = $420). The retailer's cost is the wholesaler's price, so HDX-treme next subtracts the wholesaler's margin ($420 - ($420 X 0.20) = $336). Thus, the markup chain representing the sequence of markups used by firms at each level in a channel for HDX-treme's new product is: Suggested retail price: minus retail margin (30%): Retailer's cost/wholesaler's price: minus wholesaler's margin (20%): Wholesaler's cost/HDX-treme's price:

$600 -$180

$420 -

$336

By deducting the markups for each level in the markup chain, HDX-treme arrives at a price for the DVD player to wholesalers of $336.

The previous analyses derived a value-based price of $336 for HDX-treme's DVD player. Although this price is higher than the break-even price of $270 and covers costs, that price assumed a demand of 1 million units. But how many units and what level of dollar sales must HDX-treme achieve to break even at the $336 price? And what level of sales must be achieved to realize various profit goals? These questions can be answered through break-even and margin analysis.

Break-even analysis Analysis to determine the unit volume and dollar sales needed to be profitable given a particular price and cost structure.

,

,

~ ~ ' & g ~ > Bre&Jg-EverL : ~ l ~ l ~ l gTJnii, T J Q ~ I Aand ~ ~

Doljka,arsales

Based on an understanding of costs, consumer value, the competitive environment, and reseller requirements, HDX-treme has decided to set its price to wholesalers at $336. At that price, what sales level will be needed for HDX-treme to break even or make a profit? Break-even analysis determines the unit volume and dollar sales needed to be profitable given a particular price and

A-14

Appendix 2

Marketing by the Numbers

cost structure. At the break-even point, total revenue equals total costs and profit is zero. Above this point, the company will make a profit; below it, the company will lose money. HDX-treme can calculate break-even volume using the following f ~ n n u l a : ~ Break-even volume =

Unit contribution The amount that each unit contributes to covering fixed costs-the difference between price and variable costs.

fixed costs price - unit variable cost

The denominator (price - unit variable cost) is called unit contribution (sometimes called contribution margin). It represents the amount that each unit contributes to covering fixed costs. Break-even volume represents the level of output at which all (variable and fixed) costs are covered. In HDX-treme's case, break-even unit volume is: Break-even volume =

price

fixed cost - $20~000~000 = 232,558.1 units $336 - $250 - variable cost

Thus, at the given cost and pricing structure, HDX-treme will break even at 232,559 units. To determine the break-even dollar sales, simply multiply unit break-even volume by the selling price:

BE sales = BEvoIX price = 232,559 units Contribution margin The unit contribution divided by the selling price.

X

$336

=

$78,139,824

Another way to calculate dollar break-even sales is to use the percentage contribution margin (hereafter referred to as contribution margin), which is the unit contribution divided by the selling price: Contribution margin =

rice - variable cost - $3y3i:250 price

=

0.256 or 25.6%

Then,

fixed costs Break-even sales = contribution margin - $20'600*000= $78,125,000 0.256 Note that the difference between the two break-even sales calculations is due to rounding. Such break-even analysis helps HDX-treme by showing the unit volume needed to cover costs. If production capacity cannot attain this level of output, then the company should not launch this product. However, the unit break-even volume is well within HDX-treme's capacity. Of course, the bigger question concerns whether HDX-treme can sell this volume at the $336 price. We'll address that issue a little later. Understanding contribution margin is useful in other types of analyses as well, particularly if unit prices and unit variable costs are unknown or if a company (say, a retailer) sells many products at different prices and knows the percentage of total sales variable costs represent. Whereas unit contribution is the difference between unit price and unit variable costs, total contribution is the difference between total sales and total variable .costs. The overall contribution margin can be calculated by: Contribution margin = C

'

total sales

- total variable costs total sales

Regardless of the actual level of sales, if the company knows what percentage of sales is represented by variable costs, it can calculate contribution margin. For example, HDXtreme's unit variable cost is $250, or 74% of the selling price ($250 s $336 = 0.74). That means for every $1 of sales revenue for HDX-treme, $0.74 represents variable costs, and the difference ($0.26) represents contribution to fixed costs. But even if the company doesn't know its unit price and unit variable cost, it can calculate the contribution margin from total sales and total variable costs or from knowledge of the total cost structure. It can set total sales equal to 100% regardless of the actual absolute amount and determine the contribution margin: Contribution margin

=

100% - 74% 1 - 0.74 1 - 0.74 = 0.26 or 26% 100% 1.

Note that this matches the percentage calculated from the unit price and unit variable cost information. This alternative calculation will be very useful later when analyzing various marketing decisions.

Marketing by the Numbers

Appendix 2

A-15

Although it is useful to know the break-even point, most companies are more interested in making a profit. Assume HDX-treme would like to realize a $5 million profit in the first year. How many DVD players must it sell at the $336 price to cover fixed costs and produce this profit? To determine this, HDX-treme can simply add the profit figure to fixed costs and again divide by the unit contribution to determine unit sales:4 Unit volume =

fixed cost - profit goal - $20,000,000 + $5,000,000 = 290,697.7 units price - variable cost $336 - $250

Thus, to earn a $5 million profit, HDX-treme must sell 290,698 units. Multiply by price to determine dollar sales needed to achieve a $5 million profit: Dollar sales = 290,698 units X $336 = $97,674,528 Or use the contribution margin: Sales =

fixed cost + profit goal contribution margin

-

$20,000,000 + $5,000,000 = $97,656,250 0.256

Again, note that the difference between the two break-even sales calculations is due to rounding. As we saw previously, a profit goal can also be stated as a return on investment goal. For example, recall that HDX-treme wants a 30% return on its $10 million investment. Thus, its absolute profit goal is $3 million ($10,000,000 x 0.30). This profit goal is treated the same way as in the previous example? Unit volume

=

fixed cost + profit goal - $20,000,000 + $3,000,000 = 267,442 units price - variable cost $336 - $250

Dollar sales = 267,442 units X $336

Dollar sales =

=

$89,860,512

fixed cost + profit goal - $20,000,000 + $3,000,000 = $89,843,750 contribution margin 0.256

Finally, HD~%remecan express its profit goal as a percentage of sales, which we also s a 6 in previous pricing analyses. Assume HDX-treme desires a 25% return on sales. To determine the unit and sales volume necessary to achieve this goal, the calculation is a little different from the previous two examples. In this case, we incorporate the profit goal into the unit contribution as an additional variable cost. Look at it this way: If 25% of each sale must go toward profits, that leaves only 75% of the selling price to cover fixed costs. Thus, the equation becomes6 Unit volume =

fixed cost fixed cost or (0.75 x price)-variable cost price - variable cost - (0.25 x price)

Unit volume = (0.75$20,000,000 X $336) - $250

=

107000,000units

Dollar sales necessary = 10,000,000 units X $336 = $3,360,000,000 Thus, HDX-treme would need more than $3 billion in sales to realize a 25% return on sales given its current price and cost structure! Could it possibly achieve this level of sales? The major point is this: Although break-even analysis can be usefd in determining the level of sales needed to cover costs or to achieve a stated profit goal, it does not tell the company whether it is possible to achieve that level of sales at the specified price. To address this issue, HDX-treme needs to estimate demand for this product. Before moving on, however, let's stop here and practice applying the concepts covered so far. Now that you have seen pricing and break-even concepts in action as they related to HDXtreme's new DVD player, here are several exercises for you to apply what you have learned in other contexts.

8-26

Appendix 2

Marketing by the Numbers

arketing by the

umbers Exercise Bet One

Now that you've studied pricing, break-even, and margin analysis as they relate to HDX-treme's new-product launch, use the following exercises to apply these concepts in other contexts. 1.1 Sanborn, a manufacturer of electric roof vents, realizes a cost of $55 for every unit it pro-

duces. Its total fixed costs equal $2 million. If the company manufactures 500,000 units, compute the following: a. unit cost b. markup price if the company desires a 10% return on sales c. ROI price if the company desires a 25% return on an investment of $1 million 1.2 An interior decorator purchases items to sell in her store. She purchases a lamp for $125 and sells it for $225. Determine the following: a. dollar markup b. markup percentage on cost c. markup percentage on selling price 1.3 A consumer purchases a toaster from a retailer for $60. The retailer's markup is 20%, and the wholesaler's markup is 15%, both based on selling price. For what price does the manufacturer sell the product to the wholesaler? 1.4 A vacuum manufacturer has a unit cost of $50 and wishes to achieve a margin of 30% based on selling price. If the manufacturer sells directly to a retailer who then adds a set margin of 40% based on selling price, determine the retail price charged to consumers. 1.5 Advanced Electronics manufactures DVDs and sells them directly to retailers who typically sell them for $20. Retailers take a 40% margin based on the retail selling price. Advanced's cost information is as follows: $2.50/DVD DVD package and disc $2.25/DVD Royalties Advertising and promotion $500,000 Overhead $200,000 Calculate the following: a. contribution per unit and contribution margin b. break-even volume in DVD units and dollars c. volume in DVD units and dollar sales necessary if Advanced's profit goal is 20% profit on sales d. net profit if 5 million DVDs are sold

Total market demand The total volume that would be bought by a defined consumer group in a defined geographic area in a defined time period in a defined marketing environment under a defined level and mix of industry marketing effort.

Market potential The upper limit of market demand.

HDX-treme has now calculated the sales needed to break even and to attain various profit goals on its DVD player. However, the company needs more information regarding demand in order to assess the feasibility of attaining the needed sales levels. This information is also needed for production and other decisions. For example, production schedules need to be developed and marketing tactics need to be planned. The total market demand for a product or service is the total volume that would be bought by a defined consumer group in a defined geographic area in a defined time period in a defined marketing environment under a defined level and mix of industry marketing effort. Total market demand is not a fixed number but a function of the stated conditions. For example, next year's total market demand for high-definition DVD players will depend on how much Samsung, Sony, Pioneer, Toshiba, and other producers spend on marketing their brands. It also depends on many environmental factors, such as government regulations, economic conditions, and the level of consumer confidence in a given market. The upper limit of market demand is called market potential. One general but practical method that HDX-treme might use for estimating total market demand uses three variables: (1)the number of prospective buyers, (2) the quantity purchased

Appendix 2 Marketing by the Numbers

A-17

by an average buyer per year, and (3) the price of an average unit. Using these numbers, HDXtreme can estimate total market demand as follows:

where Q = total market demand n = number of buyers in the market q = quantity purchased by an average buyer per year p = price of an average unit

Chain ratio method Estimating market demand by multiplying a base number by a chain of adjusting percentages.

A variation of this approach is the chain ratio method. This method involves multiplying a base number by a chain of adjusting percentages. For example, HDX-treme's high-definition DVD player is designed to play high-definition DVD movies on high-definition televisions. Thus, consumers who do not own a high-definition television will not likely purchase this player. Additionally, not all HDTV households will be willing and able to purchase the new high-definition DVD player. HDX-treme can estimate U.S. demand using a chain of calculations like the following: Total number of U.S. households x The percentage of U.S. households owning a high-definition television j< The percentage of these households willing and able to buy a high-definition DVD player AC Nielsen, the television ratings company, estimates that there are more than 110 million TV households in the United States7 The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that 38% of TV households will own HDTVs by the end of 2 0 0 6 . ~However, HDX-treme's research indicates that only 44.5% of HDTV households possess the discretionary income needed and are willing to buy a high-definition DVD player. Then, the total number of households willing and able to purchase this product is: 110 million households x 0.38

x 0.445 = 18.6 million households

Because HDTVs are relatively new and expensive products, most households have only one of these tele.visions, and it's usually the household's primary t e l e v i ~ i o nThus, .~ consumers who buy a high-definition DVD player will likely buy only one per household. Assuming the average retail price across all brands is $750 for this product, the estimate of total market demand is as follows: 18.6 million households x 1DVD player per household x $750

=

$14 billion

This simple chain of calculations gives HDX-treme only a rough estimate of potential demand. However, more detailed chains involving additional segments and other qualifying factors would yield more accurate and refined estimates. Still, these are only estimates of market potential. They rely heavily on assumptions regarding adjusting percentages, average quantity, and average price. Thus, HDX-treme must make certain that its assumptions are reasonable and defendable. As can be seen, the overall market potential in dollar sales can vary widely given the average price used. For this reason, HDX-trerne will use unit sales potential to determine its sales estimate for next year. Market potential in terms of units is 18.6 million DVD players (18.6 million households X 1 DVD player per household). Assuming that HDX-treme wants to attain 2% market share (comparable to its share of the HDTV market) in the first year after launching this product, then it can forecast unit sales at 18.6 million units X 0.02 = 372,000 units. At a selling price of $336 per unit, this translates into sales of $124.99 million (372,000 units X $336 per unit). For simplicity, further analyses will use forecasted sales of $125 million. This unit volume estimate is well within HDX-treme's production capacity and exceeds not only the break-even estimate (232,559 units) calculated earlier, but also the volume necessary to realize a $5 million profit (290,698 units) or a 30% return on investment (267,442 units). However, this forecast falls well short of the volume necessary to realize a 25% return on sales (10 million units!) and may require that HDX-treme revise expectations. To assess expected profits, we must now look at the budgeted expenses for launching this product. To do this, we will construct a pro forma profit-and-loss statement.

A-18

Appendix 2

Marketing by the Numbers

All marketing managers must account for the profit impact of their marketing strategies. A major tool for projecting such profit impact is a pro forma (or projected) profit-and-loss statement (also called an income statement or operating statement). A pro forma statement shows projected revenues less budgeted expenses and estimates the projected net profit for an organization, product, or brand during a specific planning period, typically a year. It includes direct product production costs, marketing expenses budgeted to attain a given sales forecast, and .overhead expenses assigned to the organization or product. A profit-and-loss statement typically consists of several major components (see Table A2.1):

Pro forma (or projected) profit-and-loss statement (or income statement or operating statement) A statement that shows projected revenues less budgeted expenses and estimates the projected net profit for an organization, product, or brand during a specific planning period, typically a year.

%A

Net sales-gross sales revenue minus returns and allowances (for example, trade, cash, quantity, and promotion allowances). HDX-treme's net sales for 2006 are estimated to be $125 million, as determined in the previous analysis. Cost of goods sold (sometimes called cost of sales)-the actual cost of the merchandise sold by a manufacturer or reseller. It includes the cost of inventory, purchases, and other costs associated with making the goods. HDX-treme's cost of goods sold is estimated to be 50% of net sales, or $62.5 million. a Gross margin [or gross profit]-the difference between net sales and cost of goods sold. HDX-treme's gross margin is estimated to be $62.5 million. Operating expenses-the expenses incurred while doing business. These include all other expenses beyond the cost of goods sold that are necessary to conduct business. Operating expenses can be presented in total or broken down in detail. Here, HDX-treme's estimated operating expenses include marketing expenses and general and administrative expenses. Marketing expenses include sales expenses, promotion expenses, and distribution expenses. The new product will be sold though HDX-treme's sales force, so the company budgets $5 million for sales salaries. However, because sales representatives earn a 10% commission on sales, HDX-treme must also add a variable component to sales expenses of $12.5 million (10% of $125 million net sales), for a total budgeted sales expense of $17.5 million. HDX-treme sets its advertising and promotion to launch this product at $10 million. However, the company also budgets 4% of sales, or $5 million, for cooperative advertising allowances to retailers who promote HDX-treme's new product in their advertising. Thus, the total budgeted advertising and promotion expenses are $15 million ($10 million for advertising plus $5 million in co-op allowances). Finally, HDX-treme budgets 10% of net sales, or $12.5 million, for height and delivery charges. In all, total marketing expenses are estimated to be $17.5 million + $15 million + $12.5 million = $45 million. General and administrative expenses are estimated at $5 million, broken down into $2 million for managerial salaries and expenses for the marketing Eunction.and $3 million of indirect overhead allocated to this product by the corporate accountants (such as depreciation, interest, maintenance, and insurance). Total expenses for the year, then, are estimated to be $50 million ($45 million marketing expenses + $5 million in general and administrative expenses).

2.1

Pro Forma Profit-and-Loss Statement for the 12-Month Period Ended December 31, 2006

i

L

i

I-

'

-

-

--

-

-

-

% of sales

--- --- - - - -

-

--

- -

Net Sales Cost of Goods Sold Gross Margln

- ---

-- ---

--

-

-

-- -- -- -

$125,000,000 62,500,000 $ 62,500,000

100% 50% 50%

45,000,000

36%

5,000,000 $12,500,000

4% 10%

i

1

Marketing Expenses Sales expenses Promotion expenses 1 Fre~ght

i f

1 1 1 I

General and Administrative Expenses Managerial salaries and expenses Indirect overhead Net Profit Before Income Tax

$17,500,000 15,000,000 12,500,000 $2,000,000 3,000,000

Appendix 2 Marketing by the Numbers EI

8-19

Net profit before taxes-profit earned after all costs are deducted, HDX-treme's estimated net profit before taxes is $12.5 million.

In all, as Table A2.1 shows, HDX-treme expects to earn a profit on its new DVD player of $12.5 million in 2006. Also note that the percentage of sales that each component of the profit-and-loss statement represents is given in the right-hand column. These percentages are determined by dividing the cost figure by net sales (that is, marketing expenses represent 36% of net sales determined by $45 million + $125 million). As can be seen, HDX-treme projects a net progt return on sales of 10% in the first year after launching this product.

Profit-and-loss statement (or income statement or operating statement) A statement that shows actual revenues less expenses and net profit for an organization, product, or brand during a specific planning period, typically a year.

Now let's fast-forward a year. HDX-treme's high-definition DVD player has been on the market for one year and management wants to assess its sales and profit performance. One way to assess this performance is to compute performance ratios derived from HDX-treme's profitand-loss statement. Whereas the pro forma profit-and-loss statement shows projected financial performance, the statement given in Table A2.2 shows HDX-treme's actual financial performance based on actual sales, cost of goods sold, and expenses during the past year. By comparing the profitand-loss statement from one period to the next, HDX-treme can gauge performance against goals, spot favorable or unfavorable trends, and take appropriate corrective action. The profit-and-loss statement shows that HDX-treme lost $1 million rather than making the $12.5 million profit projected in the pro forma statement. Why? One obvious reason is that net sales fell $25 million short of estimated sales. Lower sales translated into lower variable costs associated with marketing the product. However, both fixed costs and the cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales exceeded expectations. Hence, the product's contribution margin was 21% rather than the estimated 26%. That is, variable costs represented 79% of sales (55% for cost of goods sold, 10% for sales commissions, 10% for freight, and 4% for coop allowances). Recall that contribution margin can be calculated by subtracting that &action from one (1-0.79 = 0.21). Total fixed costs were $22 million, $2 million more than estimated. Thus, the sales that HDX-treme needed to break even given this cost structure can be calculated as: Break-even sales =

Market share Company sales divided by market sales.

Profit-and-Loss Statement for the 12-Month Period Ended December 3 1 , 2 0 0 6

fixed costs contribution margin

-

$22'000'000 = $104,761,905 0.21

If HDX-treme had achieved another $5 million in sales, it would have earned a profit. Although HDX-treme's sales fell short of the forecasted sales, so did overall industry sales for this product. Overall industry sales were only $2.5 billion. That means that HDX-treme's market share was 4% ($100 million + $2.5 billion = 0.04 = 4%), which was higher than forecasted. Thus, HDX-treme attained a higher-than-expected market share but the overall market sales were not as high as estimated.

% of sales ,-

:

-- -.

---

Net Sales

-- ---

j Cost of Goods Sold

/

Gross Margin Marketing Expenses Sales expenses Promotion expenses Freight .General and Administrative Expenses Managerial salaries and expenses Indirect overhead Net Profit Before Income Tax

-

--

-...-

$100,000,000

100%

I :

A-20

Appendix 2

Marketing by the Numbers

Operating ratios The ratios of selected operating statement items to net sales.

Gross margin percentage

The percentage of net sales . remaining after cost of goods sold--calculated by dividing gross margin by net sales.

The profit-and-loss statement provides the figures needed to compute some crucial operating ratios-the ratios of selected operating statement items to net sales. These ratios let marketers compare the firm's performance in one year to that in previous years (or with industry stanin that year). The most commonly used operating ratios dards and competitor~'~performance are the gross margin percentage, the net profit percentage, and the operating expense percentage. The inventory turnover rate and return on investment [ROI) are often used to measure managerial effectiveness and efficiency. The gross margin percentage indicates the percentage of net sales remaining after cost of goods sold that can contribute to operating expenses and net profit before taxes. The higher this ratios the more a firm has left to cover expenses and generate profit. HDX-treme's gross margin ratio was 45 % : Gross margin percentage =

Net profit percentage The percentage of each sales dollar going to profitcalculated by dividing net profits by net sales.

Operating expense percentage The portion of net sales going to operating expensescalculated by dividing total expenses by net sales.

inventory turnover rate [or stockturn rate for resellers) The number of times an inventory turns overor is sold during a specified time period (often one year)--calculated based on costs, selling price, or units.

oss margin - $45,000,000 = 0'45 = 45% $IOO,OOO,OOO net sales

Note that this percentage is lower than estimated, and this ratio is seen easily in the percentage of sales column in Table A2.2. Stating items in the profit-and-loss statement as a percent of sales allows managers to quickly spot abnormal changes in costs over time. If there was previous history for this product and this ratio was declining, management should examine it more closely to determine why it has decreased (that is, because of a decrease in sales volume or price, an increase in costs, or a combination of these). In HDX-treme's case, net sales were $25 million lower than estimated, and cost of goods sold was higher than estimated (55% rather than the estimated 50%). The net profit percentage shows the percentage of each sales dollar going to profit. It is calculated by dividing net profits by net sales: Net profit percentage =

net profit - -$1,000,000 = -0'01 = -'"% net sales $IOO,OOO,OOO

This ratio is easily seen in the percent of sales column. HDX-treme's DVD player generated negative profits in the first year, not a good situation given that before the product launch net profits before taxes were estimated at more than $12 million. Later in this appendix, we will discuss further analyses the marketing manager should conduct to defend the product. The operating expense percentage indicates the portion of net sales going to operating expenses. Operating expenses include marketing and other expenses not directly related to marketing the product, such as indirect overhead assigned to this product. It is calculated by: Operating expense percentage = total expenses net sales

-

$46,000,000 = 0.46 $100,000,000

= 46%

This ratio can also be quickly determined &om the percent of sales column in the profit-andloss statement by adding the percentages for marketing expenses and general and administrative expenses (39% + 7%). Thus, 46 cents of every sales dollar went for operations. Although HDX-treme wants this ratio to be as low as possible, and 46% is not an alarming amount, it is of concern if it is increasing over time or if a loss is realized. Another useful ratio is the inventory turnover rate (also called stockturn rate for resellers). The inventory turnover 'nite is the number of times an inventory turns over or is sold during a specified time period (often one year). This rate tells how quickly a business is moving inventory through the organization. Higher rates indicate that lower investments in inventory are made, thus freeing up funds for other investments. It may be computed on a cost, selling price, or unit basis. The formula based on cost is: Inventory turnover rate

=

cost of goods sold average inventory at cost

Assuming HDX-treme's beginning and ending inventories were $30 million and $20 million, respectively, the inventory turnover rate is: Inventory turnover rate

=

$55,000,000 - $55,000,000 ($30,000,000 -I-$20,000,000)/2 - $25,000,000 - 2'2

That is, HDX-treme's inventory turned over 2.2 times in 2006. Normally, the higher the turnover rate, the higher the management efficiency and company profitability. However, this rate should be compared to industry averages, competitors' rates, and past performance to

Appendix 2

Return on investment (ROI) A measure of managerial effectiveness and efficiencynet profit before taxes divided by total investment.

Marketing by the Numbers

-A-2 1

determine if HDX-treme is doing well. A competitor with similar sales but a higher inventory turnover rate will have fewer resources tied up in inventory, allowing it to invest in other areas of the business. Companies frequently use return on investment (ROI) to measure managerial effectiveness and efficiency. For HDX-treme, ROI is the ratio of net profits to total investment required to manufacture the new product. This investment includes capital investments in land, buildings, and equipment (here, the initial $10 million to refurbish the manufacturing facility) plus inventory costs (HDX-treme's average inventory totaled $25 million), for a total of $35 million. Thus, HDX-treme's ROI for the DVD player is: Return on investment =

net profit before taxes - -$1,000,000 = -.0286 investment $35,000,000

= -2.86%

ROI is often used to compare alternatives, and a positive ROI is desired. The alternative with the highest ROI is preferred to other alternatives. HDX-treme needs to be concerned with the ROI realized. One obvious way HDX-treme can increase ROI is to increase net profit by reducing expenses. Another way is to reduce its investment, perhaps by investing less in inventory and turning it over more frequently.

Given the above financial results, you may be thinking that HDX-treme should drop this new product. But what arguments can marketers make for keeping or dropping this product? The obvious arguments for dropping the product are that first-year sales were well below expected levels and the product lost money, resulting in a negative return on investment. So what would happen if HDX-treme did drop this product? Surprisingly, if the company drops the product, the profits for the total organization will decrease by $4 million! How can that be? Marketing managers need to look closely at the numbers in the profit-and-loss statement to determine the net marketing contribution for this product. In HDX-treme's case, the net marketing contribution for the DVD player is $4 million, and if the company drops this product, that contribution will disappear as well. Let's look more closely at this concept to illustrate how marketing managers can better assess and defend their marketing strategies and programs. Met marketing contribution A measure of marketing profitability that includes only components of profitability controlled by marketing.

Net marketing contribution (MMC), along with other marketing metrics derived from it, measures marketing profitability. It includes only components of profitability that are controlled by marketing. Whereas the previous calculation of net profit before taxes from the profit-and-loss statement includes operating expenses not under marketing's control, NMC does not. Referring back to HDX-treme's profit-and-loss statement given in Table A2.2, we can calculate net marketing contribution for the DVD player as:

NMC

= =

net sales - cost of goods sold - marketing expenses $100 million - $55 million - $41 million = $4 million

The marketing expenses include sales expenses ($15 million), promotion expenses ($14 million), freight expenses ($10 million), and the managerial salaries and expenses of the marketing function ($2 million), which total $41 million. Thus, the DVD player actually contributed $4 million to HDX-treme's profits. It was the $5 million of indirect overhead allocated to this product that caused the negative profit. Further, the amount allocated was $2 million more than estimated in the pro forma profitand-loss statement. Indeed, if only the estimated amount had been allocated, the product would have earned a profit of $1 million rather than losing $1 million. If HDX-treme drops the DVD player product, the $5 million in fixed overhead expenses will not disappear-it will simply have to be allocated elsewhere. However, the $4 million in net marketing contribution will disappear. Marketing return on sales (or marketing ROS) The percent of net sales attributable to the net marketing contributioncalculated by dividing net marketing contribution by net sales.

To get an even deeper understanding of the profit impact of marketing strategy, we'll now examine two measures of marketing efficiencymarketing return on sales (marketing ROS) and marketing return on investment (marketing ROI).1•‹ Marketing return on sales (or marketing ROS) shows the percent of net sales attributable to the net marketing contribution. For our DVD player, ROS is: Marketing ROS =

net marketing contribution - $4,000,000 = 0.04 = 4% net sales - $100,000,000

A-22

Appendix 2

Marketing return on investment (or marketing ROI) A measure of the marketing productivity of a marketing investment-calculated by dividing net marketing by marketing expenses.

Marketing by the Numbers Thus, out of every $100 of sales, the product returns $4 to HDX-treme's bottom line. A high marketing ROS is desirable. But to assess whether this is a good level of performance, HDXtreme must compare this figure to previous marketing ROS levels for the product, the ROSS of other products in the company's portfolio, and the ROSS of competing products. Marketing return on investment (or marketing ROI) measures the marketing productivity of a marketing investnient. In HDX-treme's case, the marketing investment is represented by $41 million of the total expenses. Thus, Marketing ROI is: Marketing ROI =

net marketing contribution net sales

-

$4,000,000 $41,000,000

=

0.0976 = 9.76%

AS with marketing ROS, a high value is desirable, but this figure should be compared with

previous levels for the given product and with the marketing ROIs of competitors' products. Note from this equation that marketing ROI could be greater than 100%. This can be achieved by attaining a higher net marketing contribution andlor a lower total marketing expense. In this section, we estimated market potential and sales, developed profit-and-loss statements, and examined financial measures of performance. In the next section, we discuss methods for analyzing the impact of various marketing tactics. However, before moving on to those analyses, here's another set of quantitative exercises to help you apply what you've learned to other situations.

Determine the market potential for a product that has 50 million prospective buyers who purchase an average of 3 per year and price averages $25. How many units must a company sell if it desires a 10% share of this market? Develop a profit-and-loss statement for the Westgate division of North Industries. This division manufactures light fixtures sold to consumers through home improvement and hardware stores. Cost of goods sold represents 40% of net sales. Marketing expenses include selling expenses, promotion expenses, and freight. Selling expenses include sales salaries t o t a g $3 million per year and sales commissions (5% of sales). The company spent $3 million on advertising last year, and keight costs were 10% of sales. Other costs include $2 million for managerial salaries and expenses for the marketing function and another $3 million for indirect overhead allocated to the division. a. Develop the profit-and-loss statement if net sales were $20 million last year. b. Develop the profit-and-loss statement if net sales were $40 million last year. c. Calculate Westgate's break-even sales. Using the profit-and-loss statement you developed in question 2.2b, and assuming that Westgate's beginning inventory was $11 million, ending inventory was $7 million, and total investment was $20 million including inventory, determine the following: a. gross margin percentage b, net profit percentage c. operating expense percentage d. inventory turnover rate e. return on investment (ROI) =.;.

D'Agostino, 368 Dahl, Gary, 268-69 DaimlerChrysler, 228, 257, 258-59, 262-63, 385,404,455,476,477, 548,584 Dannon, 523 Darlin, Damon, 532 Dasani, 448, 560 Dash, Eric, 526 Datastar, 100 Datsun, 213 David Sunflower Seeds, 501 Dawn, 198 Dawn Direct Foam, 137 Day, Margaret, 14, 15 Days Inn, 469 Daytona 500, 2 DDB Worldwide, 446 de Guzman, Doris, 199 de Lisser, Eleena, 526 De Mesa, Alycia, 157 Death of a Salesman, 452 Defense Logistics Agency, 176 DeGeneres, Ellen, 188 Del Monte, 234 Del.isio.us, 135 Dell, 4-5, 18, 19, 24, 32, 54, 76, 97,138, 161,172,175-76,200,206,209, 251,309,317,318-19,321,324,

1-3

336,342,344,345,354,478-80, 481,482,488,489,490,495, 504, 523,524 Dell, Michael, 478-80, 504-05 Delta Air Lines, 173, 302, 323 DeNiro, Robert, 188 Department of Government Affairs, 176 Der Hovanesian, Mara, 526 Design, 224 Desperate Housewives, 430 Deutsche Bank, 275 DeWalt power tools, 230 Dial Media, 488 Dialog, 100, 103 Did-0-Matic Food Slicer, 489 Diamond, 387 Diet Coke, 417, 559 DiFabio, Angela, 499 Digg, 135 DiGiorno, 210 DiPiazza, Samuel, 593 Direct Marketing Association (DMA),481, 485,508-09 DirecTV, 429,493 Discovery Store, 433 Dish Network, 501 Disney. see The Walt Disney Company Disneyland Paris, 551 Ditucci, Richard, 457 DKNY, 527,550 Dodgeball, 217 Doherty, Jacqueline, 42 Do-It Best hardware, 373 Dolce & Gabbana, 372 Dole Classic Iceberg Salad, 226 Dollar General, 78, 188, 209 Dollar Tree, 188 Domino's Pizza, 437 Dongdan Sports Center, 541 Dora the Explorer, 235,236 Dora's Talking Dollhouse, 235 Doures, Joseph J., 171 Dove, 587,588-89 Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, 588-89 Dove Self-Esteem Fund, 589 Dow Jones News Retrieval, 100 Dow Plastics, 491 Downy, 198,213 Dr. J, 248, 249 Dr Pepper, 517 Dr. Seuss, 235 Drakkar Noir, 559 Dream Dinners, Inc., 74 Dreamworks, 433 Dreft, 198,199 Drucker, Peter, 5 Drumluk, Jennifer, 505 Dryel, 488 Dumaine, Brian, 538 Dun & Bradstreet, 100,102 Dunaway, Cammie, 106 Dunkin' Donuts, 31,182-84 DuPont, 160,288,297,409,453,458 DuPont Teflon, 161-62 Dyson, 208 '

1

!C =

Eagle Snacks, 529 Earthbound Farms, 88 Earthlink, 497 Eastman, George, 178 Eastman Kodak, 518 Eaton, 178 eBay, 25, 37, 38, 76, 319, 382,481,493, 495,497,504, 507, 512 Echostar, 493

1-4

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index

Eddiebauer.com, 85, 468-69 Edison, Thomas, 82 Edwards, Jim, 433 Edwardson, John, 451 Edy's, 4, 409, 410 Edy's Slow-Churned, 404 eGO Bikes, 278 Eisen, Mark, 371 Eisinger, Jesse, 477 Eisner, Michael, 41, 238 Ek Chor Distribution System Co. Ltd., 566 Electric Food Dehydrator, 489 Electrolux, 265-66, 560 Electronic Arts (EA), 256 Elgin, Ben, 180 The Ellen Degeneres Show, 76 Elliott, Stuart, 371, 411,433 Elmer's 3D Paint Pens, 258 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 60 Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, 497 Engel, Ernst, 78 English Times, 68 Enron, 87, 329 Enterpise Service Quality Index (ESQi), 126 Enterprise Rent-A-Car, 124-26 Entourage, 43 3 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 79,84, 546,584,592 Envisage Technologies, 175 Epinions.com, 319 Epson, 179 Equate, 233 Era, 198,199 Ernst & Young, 506 Erving, Julius, 249 Esfahan, Elizabeth, 558 ESPN The Magazine, 436 ESPN XGames, 71 ESPN.com, 497,501 Est6 Lauder, 196, 218, 408, 490 Ethan Allen, 494 Etonic, 406 eToys.com, 497 Eureka, 265 European Commission, 82 European Economic Commission, 175 European Union (EU), 545, 585 Evans, Patti Freeman, 394 Everyday Living brand, 233 Evian, 218,313,447 Evian Brumisateur Mineral Water Spray, 313 Excedrin Tension Headache Cooling Pads, 258 Exeter Brands Group, 249 Expedia, 382,493,497 Experian, 191 Express, 156, 373 Exxon, 232 ExxonMobil, 193,276,329-31,543 ExxonMobil Speed-Pass, 81 Eyler, John, 283

F Facebook.com, 135 Factiva, 102 Fahey, Jonathan, 341 Fairfield Inn by Marriott, 229 Faletra, Robert, 457 The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, 442 Family Dollar, 8, 78,188, 209 Farah, Samar, 137 Farley, Jim, 73 Farris, James, 45 7

C

Fast Company, 32 Febreze, 432-33 Federal Aviation Administration, 84 . Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 202 Federal Business Opportunities, 176 Federal Communications Commission, 84 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 84 FedEx, 232,253,336,524 Federal Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), 507 Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 84, 102, 202, 234, 326, 330, 419, 487, 507, 508,572,577 Federated Department Stores, 339 FedEx Kinko's, 74-75 FedEx Logistics, 358 Feingold, Lily, 157 Fels Naptha, 268 Fendi, 94 Ferragarno, 342 Ferrari, 48,455,476 Fiat, 455, 476 Fiberglass, 232 Fidelity Investments, 70, 344, 498 Field & Stream, 192 Fiesta Fruity Pebbles, 185 50 First Dates, 217 FIJI Natural Artesian Water, 216-18 Finaly, Steve, 151 First Nation Peppermint tea, 590 Fish, Desiree, 526 Fisher Scientific International, 464 Fisherman's Friend, 470 Fisher-Price, 104 Fit produce rinse, 260 Fites, Donald, 332, 334 Flair fragrance, 339 Fleischmann's Yeast, 572 Flickr, 135 Fluhr, Jeff, 512-1 3 F.M.V. brand, 233 Fogdog, 234 Folgers, 213, 468 Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 82, 84, 227 Food Lion, 383 Foot Locker, 249 Ford Escape, 50 Ford Escape Hybrid, 401-02 Ford Expedition, 92 Ford Explorer, 275 Ford Motor Company, 8, 10,47, 50, 51, 88, 93, 275, 335, 336, 339, 342, 353, 401-02,410,432,455,476,530,

543, 561 .L .3-".1. Formica, 232 Fornell, Claes, 394 Forrester Research, 280, 536 Forth & Towne, 196,228 Fortune, 192,530,540,580 Fossil, 431 Fountain, Henry, 513 Four Seasons, 517,525 Fox network, 400 Frank About Women, 486 Frankel, Alex, 235 Frappuccino, 44 Freed, Joshua, 25 Freedman, David H., 437 Freeport-McMoRan, 333 Freshdirect.com, 394 Freud, Sigmund, 142 Freudenheirn, Milt, 326 Friedman, Thomas, 318-19,550 Friends, 448 Friends 2B Made, 33 ,.r

Frigidaire, 265 Frito-Lay, 275, 529 Frog Design, 256 Frontier Airlines, 303, 306 Froogle.com, 319,497 Frosted Flakes Cereal & Milk Bars, 471 Fmcco, Giuseppe, 265 Fruit of the Loom, 254 Fry, Arthur, 267 FTC, 521 FTD Florists, 469 Fuchs, Marek, 273 Fuji, 179, 491, 517 Fukusuke Corporation, 548 Funky Soy Sauce Pringles, 185 Furniture.com, 497 Fusion razors, 262 -7:

$7

. 2 .

Gain, 198,199 GAIN, 598 Gallup Management Consulting Group, 459 Gap, Inc., 120, 121,196, 228, 233, 342, 361,367,370,382,494,527 Garden.com, 497 Garfield, Bob, 423 Garrison, Brittany, 157 Gasol, Pau, 541 Gates, Bill, 100, 280 Gateway, 317, 376,467 Gator, 270 Gatorade, 9,434 Gay.com, 76 Gazeley, 567 GE, 24, 45-46, 55, 79, 80, 172, 175, 229, 231, 236, 264, 266, 329, 343, 349, 463,495,498, 519, 527, 529, 543, 573 GE Appliances, 351 GE CustomerNet, 351 GE Power Systems, 463 Geek Factory, 525 GEICO DIRECT, 18, 206,338, 34748, 424-25,434,481 Gelles, Jeff, 137 General Foods, 558, 580 General Mills, 75, 160, 226, 343, 416, 575-76,580 General Motors (GM),48, 76, 93, 196, 213-15,276,291,310,331,385, 417,433,455,476-77,488,489,

533,560 General Services Administration, 175 Gentile, Gary, 280 Gentlemen's Quarterly, 43 8 George clothing, 371 George Foreman's Mean Lean Grilling Machine, 489 Gerber, 149, 254 German, Jenny, 4 Gerstner, Eiten, 316 Gianatasio, David, 249 Giant Eagle, 287 Giant Food Dehydrator, 488 Giant Food Stores, 342, 393 Gibson Guitar, 81,297 Gies, Jason, 378 The Gillette Company, 260, 268, 310, 440, 531,558 Gillette Complete Skincare, 198 Gillette Fusion razors, 263 Gimbel, Barney, 304 Ginevan, Sean, A9 Ginobill, Manu, 541 Ginsu knives, 488

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index Giorgio Armani, 372, 525, 547 Girl Scouts of America, 27, 38 Girl Scouts Uniquely Me, 589 Glad Stand & Zip Bags, 258 Glamour, 503 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), 325-26,5 72 GLH Formula Hair System, 489 Global 100, 585 Global Advisory Council, 64 Global Insight Inc., 215 GlobalTalk, 560 GM Express LT, 476-77 GMC Sierra, 192 Godiva, 232 Gogoi, Pallavi, 371,589 Gold medal flour, 160 Golden Corral, 186 Golden Grahams, 160, 226 Goldman, Kevin, 249 G o b n a n , Seth, 589 Gold's Gym, 69 Goodison, Donna, 249 Goodman, Drew and Myra, 88 Goodman, Fae, 157 Goodman, Shira, 205, 206 Goodyear, 1 6 0 , 1 6 1 , 1 7 5 , 3 3 9 , 3 4 0 4 Google, 93, 100, 206, 234, 235, 266, 382, 384,436,497, 501, 504,527 Gordon, Jeff, 4, 145, 409, 410 Gore-Tex, 377 Got Milk? campaign, 145, 560 Government Printing Office, 175 Grainger, 385, 389-90 Graman, Kevin, 532 Gramophone, 310 Grand Marnier, 294 Grand Theft Auto, 187 Graphic Communications Group, 180 Grass, Jim, 450 Gray, Steven, 576 Green Gear Cycling, 14 Green Mountain Energy (GME), 298-99 Greenberg, Karl, 73 Greenfield Online, 108 Greenwald, Todd, 458 Gretzky, Wayne, 410 Grewel, Dhruv, 324 Grillo, Victor Jr., 490 Grimes, William, 513 Groupe Danone, 523 GrowthPlus, 598 GSA, 176 Gschwandtner, Lisa, 296 Gucci, 94, 235, 320, 342, 372, 542, 547, 561 Guess, 527 Guest, Greta, 165 Gunthy-Renker, 489 Guy Laroche, 559 Guyer, Lillie, 73 .*..: ,, H&M, 342, 361,362,410 H&RBlock, 577 Haagen-Dazs, 160 Habitat Coffee, 85 Habitat for Humanity, 85 Haig, Matt, 505 "Hair in a Can," 488 Halliday, Jean, 417 Hallmark, 132, 197, 503, 517 Hamilton, Laird, 188 Hamm, Mia, 135 Hampton Inn, 517 Hardee's, 11, 574, 575 Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.), 16 -3

c.

Harley-Davidson, 6, 16, 32, 60, 128-30, 230,254, 522 Harousseau, Phillippe, 588, 589 Harrah's Entertainment, 112, 114-15, 484 Harrington, Lavonda, 137 Harris Bank of Chicago, 244 Harry Potter, 235, 551 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 441-42 Hart, Stuart L., 583 Harte, Susan, 171 Hartford Financial Services Group, 455 Hamard Business Review, 315 Hasbro, 360 Hawkins, Del I., 105 Haworth, 590-91 HBO, 433 Head & Shoulders, 198 Hear Music, 44, 345 Heartland Computers, 458 Hebron, Anthony, 156 Hechingers, 61 Heffher, Nancy and Harvey, 242 Heineken beer, 558 Heinz, 226, 231,407 Heller, Laura, 25, 567 Helliker, Kevin, 379 Hendrix, Jimi, 248 Hennes & Mauritz, see H&M Herbal Essences, 198 Hermes Birkin Bag, 286 Hershey, 573 Hershey's Kisses, 237 Hertz, 126, 308, 343, 427 Herzog, Karen, 449 Hesseldahl, Arik, A9 Heublein, 314 Hewlett-Packard, 7,18,22,80, 161, 172-73,179,228,251,279,317,

336, 344, 403, 413, 450, 455, 456-57,491,503,518,529, 530,533 Highlander (Toyota), 69 Hill, Harold, 452 Hill, Patricia, 331 Hilton hotels, 491, 554 Hirsch, Sam, 573-74 Hirshberg, Gary, 522 Hitachi, 279 Hoffman, Thomas, 115 Hohner, 524 Hokey Pokey Elmo, 282-83 Holden, Reed K., 286 Holiday Inn, 339,343,373, 517, 524 Holmes, Dave, 512 Holson, Laura M., 42 Home Depot, 4, 38, 53, 55, 65, 85-86, 161, 186-87,209-10,343,347,356,

357, 376, 377, 380, 382, 443, 455, 515,530 Home Shopping Network (HSN),488 Honda, 72, 88, 92, 189, 213, 229, 492, 501 Honda Civic, 72, 93,492 Honda Element, 501 Honda Fit, 203 Honda Insight, 93 Honda Ridgeline, 501 Honest Tea, 27,588-90 Honey We're Killing the Kids, 406 Hoover's, Inc., 100, 102 Horizon Organic milk, 226 Hormel, 234 Horovitz, Bruce, 137 House, Martha, 60-61 House of Blues, 491

I- 5

Howard Johnson, 469 Howard, Theresa, 371, 589 Huang, Claire, 70 Huggies, 104, 237,438 Hughlett, Mike, 346 Hummer, 81, 92, 203 Hurd, Mark, 456,457 Hurley International, 36 Hyperion Solutions, 93 Hyundai, 93 "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter," 232 Iarns, 213, 488 Ibanez, 297 DM, 77,80,110,119,160,193, 206,231, 309, 317, 321, 355, 450, 453, 459, 488, 522,523, 527, 543 Ice Age II: The Meltdown, 471 Iceland Tourist Board, 223 Icelandair, 223 Icon, 164 IDEO, 224-25,256 Iger, Robert, 42 iGo, 113 IKEA, 162,164-65,194,357,384,422, 543,551,560 iMac, 250 IMS Health, 102 Inclusive Technologies, 77 Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA),373 Inditex, 362 Infinity, 229 Information Resources, Inc., 202, 103, 261 Infusium 23,198 ING DIRECT, 17 Ingersoll-Rand, 225 Inside the Egg Shell Electric Egg Scrambler, 489 Intel, 161, 209, 231, 250, 255, 279, 521, 530,576,580 Interactive Advertising Bureau, 102 ' Interbrand, 560, 587 International Advertising Festival, 398 International Chamber of Commerce, 119 International Code of Marketing and Social Research Practice, 119 International Consumer Electronics Show, 472 International Rectifier (IR), 460-61 Internet Crime Complaint Center, 202 Interplak, 293 Interpublic Group of Companies, 276 Interspar, 566 Interstate Bakeries, 508 Intimissimi, 156 Intuit, 508 INVISTA, 161-62 Invoke Solutions, 107 IPEX, 156 iPod, 135, 218, 251, 252, 346, 371, 376, 492,521,527 Irish Spring, 230 Iron City Beer, 141 Isla, Pablo, 361 Island Michael Kors FIJI Fragrance, 218 I'tchik Herbal Tea, 590 iTunes, 251,344, 345,436,492 ivillage, 187, 502, 503 Ivory Bar Soap, 198 Ivory Snow, 198,199, 203 IiI

J. Crew, 315 J. Mendal, 16

1-6

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index

Jack Nicklaus golf clubs, 372 Jackson Hewitt, 577 Jacobs, Jim, 483 Jaffe, Sam, 437 Jaguar, 308 James, LeBron, 35, 409,410, 549 Japan Tobacco, Inc., 554 Jarrett, Dale, 4 Jawbone, 235 Jaworski, Bernard, 518 JC Penney, 78,233,368,370,376,446, 469,486 J.D. Power and Associates, 102, 214 J.D. Powers Initial Quality Study, 151 Jean-Georges, 216 Jeep, 437,440 Jeffers, Michelle, 249 Jell-0, 232, 558 Jell-0 Pudding Pops, 437 JetBlue, 232, 235, 302, 303, 306, 323,409, 410-12,434 Jewel Food Stores, 393 Jewel (singer), 513 Jewell, Mark, 538 Jewel-Osco, 390 Jif peanut butter, 273,432 Jiffy Lube, 373 Jobs, Steve, 250-52 Joel, Billy, 295 Joga.com, 384 Johansson, Lennart, 265 John Deere, 200-201, 270 John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, 593 Johnson &Johnson,11-12, 76, 276, 520, 521,522,543 Johnson, Sam T., 462 Johnson's Baby Shampoo, 543 Jones Soda, 48,49 Jordan, Michael, 248, 541 Jose Cuervo, 433 Journeys, 249 Joy Dishwashing Detergent, 198, 323 Joy, 32 1 J.P. Morgan Chase, 132-33 Jupiter Research, 102 Just for Me, 533 Juszkiewicz, Henry, 81 JVC, 238 JWT,410,411

K Kg Advantix, 434 KaBoom!, 85-86 Kachersky, Luke, 316 Kahn, Greg, 121 Kahn Research Group, 120-21 Kang & Lee Advertising, 75 Kang, Stephanie, 249 Kao Corporation, 256 Kasler, Dale, 346 Keegan, Paul, 346 Keegan, Robert, 341 Kelleher, Herb, 10, 241, 302-04 Kelleher, Kevin, 341 Kellogg, 133, 153, 233, 253,416, 471, 558, 559,575,580 Kelly, Alfred F. Jr., 525 Kelly Blue Book, 491 Kelly, Gary, 304 Kelly, Jim, 19, 160 Kelly, Ron, 458 Kendy, William F., 289 Kennedy, Bud, 379

Kennedy, John F., 81, 581 Kenneth Cole, 437 Kenseth, Matt, 230 Kenwood, 279 Kermit the Frog, 402 Keys, Alicia, 489 KFC, 49,550,555,560 Kharif, Olga, 538 Kia, 50,138 Kia Spectra, 191 Kiddy's Class, 362 Kidman, Nicole, 438 Kiley, David, 93,437 Killinger, Kerry, 515-16 Kim, Heyong Min, 316 Kimberly-Clark, 104, 234, 237, 323, 348, 503,527 King, Chris, 49 Kingsford Charcoal Briquets, 315 Kirin breweries, 554 Kirkland Signature, 233 Kirkman, Kevin, 124,126 Kirkman, 268 KitchenAid, 85,349,519 Kix, 226 Kleenex, 232 h a r t , 61,236-37,287,370,381,531,587 Knight, Phil, 34, 36, 248 Knightly, Keira, 436 Knopfler, Mark, 345 Koch, Jim, 434 Kodak, 169,175,178-80,232,299,454, 491,503,517 Kohl's, 78, 367, 370, 414 Komatsu, 332, 529 Kontzer, Tom, 465 Koranteng, Juliana, 42 Kosdrosky, Terry, 477 Kotler, Philip, 274 Kotula, Angela, 3 KPMG, 307 Kraft, 44, 136,185, 226, 233, 343, 348, 415,416,428,432,492,575,580 Krantz, Marshall, 243 Krapp, 560 Krasny, Michael, 450,451-52 Krispy Kreme, 356 Kroc, Ray, 62,64 Kroger, 88, 188, 233, 337, 342, 364, 366, 367,393,416 Kroger Brand, 233 Kryptonite locks, 225 Kudrow, Lisa, 448 Kuhlman, Arkadi, 17 Kukoc, Tony, 541 L .. Kulha, Shari, 165 Kumar, v., 22 Kurczewski, Nick, 73 Kushner, David, 93 L.A. Gear, 248 Laabs, Jennifer, 249 LadiesJHomeJournal, 138 Lafley, A. G., 6, 401 Lajdziak, Jill, 214 Larnont, Judith, 465 Land Rover, 433,488 Landor Associates, 235 Landy, Heather, 379 Lane Bryant, 376 Lang, Marie-Claude, 561 Larsen, Ralph, 12 Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 76-77

LaSalle Bank, 6 Laser Logic, 574, 576 LaserJet, 403 Lasswell, Mark, 560 Latterman, Peter, 490 Lavagna, Gina, 136,137 Lawson, Jacquie, 197 Lazare, Lewis, 449 LazerWriters, 250 Lazo, Shirley A., 25 Le Bernardin, 85 Lear Corporation, 455,476-77 Lee Jeans, 408 Legh, Chris, 434 LEG0 Company, 200,255-56,377 Lemon, Katherine, 57 LendingTkee, 432,533 Lennox, Matt, 392 Lenovo, 9,317,450 LensCrafters, 342 Leonard, Stew, 20 Lever 2000,207,337 Levi Strauss, 75, 78, 141,355, 371 Levine, Rob, 346 Levi's, 32, 232, 320, 561 Levitt, Theodore, 573 Lewis, Katherine Reynolds, 331 Lewis, Regina, 183 Lexicon Branding, 560 LexisNexis, 100,102,103 Lexus, 14,19, 20, 72,150-51, 208,229, 232,350,407, 524, 525,529 The Lexus and the Olive Tree (Friedman), 550 LG Electronics, 279, 556, 557-58 Libby, Tom, 215 Lidor, Danit, 180 Lifestyles Spa, 377 Lifetime Television, 138, 187 Ligos, Melinda, 465 Lillian Vernon, 486 The Limited, 121,156, 233, 370, 373 Limited Brands division, 156,373 Lincoln, Abraham, 81 Lion's Gate, 44 Lippert, Barbara, 411 Liquid Seats, 512 Liquidlogic Kayaks, 433 Listerine, 407 Liz Claiborne, 371 Liz Lange, 233 L.L. Bean, 20, 318,483,486,494, 504 Logitech, 533 Logo network, 76 Lohan, Lindsay, 145, 156 Loman, Willy, 452 Longo, Don, 371 Lopez, Jennifer, 489 L'Oreal, 187 Louis Vuitton, 259-60, 342 Love, Richard, 22 Loveman, Gary, 115 Lowe, Frederick H., 526 Lowe's, 53,113, 161, 210, 347, 382,455, 530 Lucky, 156 Lucky Charms, 576 Lufthansa, 244 Luhrmann, Baz, 438 Lukken, Walter, 330 Lurie, Nicholas, 316 Luvs, 198, 323 Luxottica, 342 Lycos, 234 Lyons, Daniel, 115 Lyric Opera Company, 27

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index !$g fi Ji

M&M Mini's, 258 M&Ms, 236,407 M.A.C. Cosmetics, 196 Mac, 141,190-91,250,376 Mac OS X, 250-51 MacArthur, Kate, 49,423,449 MacLean, Hadley and Doug, 189 Macy's, 236-37,339,367 Mad Science Group, 373 Madden, John, 467 Magic English, 68 Mahogany cards, 132 Maid in Manhattan, 489 Majeski, Brian T., 296 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, 150,243 Malik, Om, A9 Mall of America, 377, 378, 380 Mangalindan, Mylene, 505 Mango, 361 Manson, Marilyn, 196 MapInfo, 191 The March of Dimes, 408 Maresca, Bob, 537, 538 Margolis, Elana, 394 Marketing Research Association, 122 Marketwatch.com, 500 Marks and Spencer (M&S),278 Marlboro, 434,554 Marquis, 248 Marr, Merissa, 42 Marriott, 5, 104-05, 229, 240, 244,469,470 Marriott ExecuStay, 229 Marshall's, 371 Martha Stewart Everyday, 236-37 The Martin Agency, 424 Martin, Neal A., 115 Mary Kay Cosmetics, 338, 347,413 Maslow, Abraham, 143 Massimo Duti, 362 MasterCard, 50, 87, 205, 276,437 MasterCard World card, 188, 525 MasterFoods, 236 Matrix, 427 Matsushita, 238 Matz, Timothy, 157 Max Factor, 198 Maxwell House, 372,434 Maynard, Micheline, 304 Mayo Clinic, 240 Maytag, 377,434 Maytag Neptune Washer, 590 Mazda, 491 McCall, Melissa, 410 McCann Erickson Worldwide, 205,439 McCann Worldgroup, 276 McCartney, Paul, 70 McDonald, Duff, 243 McDonald, Richard and Maurice, 62 McDonald's, 11,43,46,49, 62-64,66, 105, 121,182, 202, 206,230,231, 244, 245, 253, 260, 261, 287,320, 336, 343, 349, 373, 384, 398,410, 421,440,491, 527, 529, 540, 542, 543,549,550,556,568-70,573,

575,598 McDowell, Edwin, 243 McGrady, Tracy, 145 McInerny, Vivian, 157 McKay, Betsy, 449, 599 McKesson Corporation, 16,206, 390 McMath, Robert, 254 McWilliams, Bruce, 316 McWilliams, Gary, 25

Mead Inteli-Gear learning system, 258 MeadWestvaco, 311 Meijer, 367, 369 Meineke Mufflers, 373 Men in Black, 433 Menzer, John, 567 Mercedes Maybach, 526 Mercedes-Benz, 14,193-94, 203, 208, 228,231,437 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, 448 Merrill Lynch, 244 Merry Maids, 373 Method home products, 234 MetLife, 532 Metro, 384 Metro 7,371 Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, 9 Mexx, 361 MGM, 244 Miami Heat, 249 Michaels, 380 Michelin tires, 543 Mickey Mouse, 41,550,551 Microsoft, 19, 24, 35,38, 55,100,112,119, 231, 250, 252, 345,443,450,495, 503, 507,508, 511, 515,'518,521, 524,527,533,549,550,576,580 Microsystems Engineering Company, 289 Mikasa, 367 Miller, Arthur, 452 Miller Beer, 254 Miller, Lara, 379 Miller Lite, 397, 437 Millman, Joel, 326 Milton Bradley, 446 The Mind of Mencia, 191 Ming, Yao, 541, 542 Minolta, 437 Mission Impossible 111,433 Mist Stick, 560 Mistubishi Pajero SUV, 559 Mitchell, Alan, 417 Mitchell, Mike, 465 Mitsubishi, 555, 559 Mitsubishi Montero, 559 Mizrahi, Isaac, 26 MLB, 33,513 Molly McButter, 533 Molson, 397 Monocryl, 522 Monsanto, 38-39 Monster Thickburger, 11, 574, 575 Monster.com, 437 Mont Blanc, 208,418 Moody, Michael, 570 Morissette, Alanis, 513 Morrison, David, 157 Morrison, Terri, 171 Morrow, Keith, 457 Morse, Samuel, 82 Morton Salt, 237 Morvitz, Thomas and Vicki, 316 Mos Def, 249 Moss, Kate, 410 Motel 6, 232, 543 Motions, 533 Motorola, 421,489, 518, 550 Moulin Rouge, 438 Mountain Dew, 71, 210 Mountain Dew Code Red, 197 Mountain Dew Livewire, 197 Mower, Sarah, 362 Mr. Clean, 6, 272-73,434,488 Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash, 272-73

1-7

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, 272 Mr. Clean MagicReach, 264,272 Mr. Handyman, 373 Mr. Microphone, 488 Mrs. Dash, 533 MSN, 497 MTV, 26, 70, 141, 194, 400, 549, 550 Mucha, Thomas, 490 Munro, Laura, 120 The Muppets, 235 The Music Man, 452 Musicland, 345, 346 Musicmatch, 344,345 MusicNow, 345 Mutschler, Gary Steffora, 280 MyFamily.com, 503 Myser, Michael, 206 mySimon.com, 319 MySpace.com, 135 t5

5

:I

Nabisco, 460, 503 Nacara Cosmetiques, 202 Nader, Ralph, 580,581 Nagle, Thomas T., 286 Napster, 345, 521 NASCAR, 2-4,6,33,409,410,443 Nash, Elizabeth, 362 Nath, Mahendra, 423 National Arts Education Initiative, 418 National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. see NASCAR National Association of Real Estate Brokers, 132-33 National Basketball Association (NBA), 54042 National Do-Not-Call Registry, 487 National Enquirer, 435, 438 National Fluid Milk Processors Education Program (MilkPEP), 145 National Gay Newspaper Guild, 76 National Hardware Show, 60 National Public Radio, 492 National Record Mart, 345 National Semiconductor, 173 Naturally Preferred brand, 233 Nature Valley, 160 Nature's Gift, 275 Naurnan, Matt, 93 Nautica, 162 Nautilus Bowflex, 489 NBA, 33,248,513,551 NBA Europe Live, 542 NBC, 329,400,441 NCAA, 4 Neale, Jon, 567 NEC Corporation, 279,464-65 Needleman, Rafe, A9 Neeleman, David, 410 Neff, Jack, 137, 273,490 Neiman Marcus, 16,78,188,367,368, 486,520 Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Centers, 371 Nelly, 145 Nescaf6, 343 Nestea, 343 Nestl6, 26, 343,492, 543, 599 Nestle Purina, 492 Netflix, 531 NeuFlex, 522 New Product Showcase and Learning Center, 253, 254 New York rimes, 497,512 New York Yankees, 22, 550

-8

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index

.ewman, Randy, 295 kwsweek, 435,436,438 leXT computers, 250 lexTag.com, 319,501 lextel, 421,490 lextel Cup, 4 FL, 2,4, 33,513, 597 [HL, 33,513 rick at Night, 432 lickelodeon, 138, 235-36 Eckerson, Stephen, 280 Iicklaus, Jack, 372 Iicorette, 325 Iielsen Media Research, 109 like, 34-36, 37, 187, 194, 206, 222, 228, 230,232,24849, 326,384,409, 410,428,437,446,453, 489, 520, 527,536,549,550, 583 Jikon, 144, 145, 299 Jiles, Robert, 42 JineMSN, 511 Jintendo, 187, 503, 551 Jissan, 93, 229 Jivea, 565 Jokia, 179, 231, 524,543, 551, 558 Joon, Chris, 180 Jordstrom, 8, 54, 78, 190, 368, 376, 520, 524,525,526 Jordstrom Rack, 371 Jorthwest Airlines, 245, 306 dorthwest Mutual Insurance, 532 dovartis, 234 dowitzki, Dirk, 541 doxzema, 137, 198 P D Group, 537 Qubrush Anti-Bacterial Toothbrush Spray, 258 qudie fruit juice, 475 qutella, 410 qutridelight, 598 VutriStar, 598, 599 3 at Home, 138 3, The Oprah Magazine, 222 3cean Spray, 517 Ictagon, 268 Idell, Patricia, 589 3dwalla, 443 3ff 5th, 371 3FF! bug spray, 232 The Ofice, 433 Office Depot, 4,172,205, 206, 276,472, 497-98,504,574 OfficeMax, 206,380 Ogilvy & Mather, 421, 589 Olay, 198,213, 260 Olay Provital, 187 Old Navy, 196,228 Old Spice, 198, 273,488 O'Leary, Michael, 306-08 Olive Garden, 203 Olle, 165 Ollinger, Cole, 326 Olympic Games, 496 Olympus Fashion Week, 448 Omnicom Group, 439 . 100 Black Men, 133 The Onion, 573 Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA),508 OPEC, 331 Opel, 215 OPEN: Small Business Network, 192-93 The Oprah Winfiey Shaw,433 Oprah's Angel Network, 222 Oprah's Book Club, 222

Oprah's Boutiqes, 222 Oracle, 19, 112, 232 Oral-B, 320 Orange Glo, 489 Orbitz, 76 Oreo cookies, 575. Oriental Land Company, 554 O'Rourke, Michael, 33 Ortega, Amancio, 361 Ortiz, Jon, 346 Oscar Mayer, 434 Oscar Mayer,Lunchables, 575 Oshkosh Truck, 197,201 Otis Elevator, 5.43 Out, 76, 77 Out&about.com, 76 Overstock.com, 326, 371,495 OxiClean, 489 0~~10,427 Oxygen network, 138,187 Oysho, 362

p Packard, David, 18 Palm pilots, 335 Pampers, 132, 190,198,213, 272, 316,437 Panasonic, 238, 279 Panera Bread, 49, 62,284 Pantene, 132,198,213,272 Paoletla, Michael, 423 Papa John's, 191 Pappas, Charles, 437 Parenting, 438 Parilla, Julieta, 132 Park, Andrew, 115 Park Place Lexus, 150,151 Parkay, 407 Parkinson, Andrew and Thomas, 392-93 Parmley, Suzette, 115 Parsons, Andy, 279 Patagonia, 27 Paternie, Patrick, 73 Paterson, Thane, 93 Pathmark, 394 Patton, Tammy, 243 Paul Mitchell, 433 Pavlik, John, 464 Payless Shoesource, 121 PB teens, 189 Peach 00-la-long tea, 589-90 Peanuts, 235 Peapod LLC, 392-94 Peeps, 189 Penske Logistics, 358 People, 436 .. Pepsico, 4,48, 107,133, 197, 209,410, 437,446,44749,455,517,529, 530,550 Pepsi Twist, 197 Perdue, 204, 226 Perdue, Frank, 560 Pereira, Joseph, 121 Perez, Antonio, 179-80 Perrier, 447 Perry, Caroline, 266 Pert Plus, 198 Petco, 375 Peters, Jeremy W., 151 Pets.com, 497 Petsmart, 315, 367 Philips, 279, 558 Philips Lighting's Earth Light, 590 Physique shampoo, 198 The Picture People, 438 Pierce Manufacturing, 201 Pillsbury, 160, 543 (

Pink, 156-57 Pinson, Bobby, 513 Pioneer Electronics, 279, 432 Pioneer Hi-Bred International (PHI), 288-89 Pipher, Mary, 589 Pixar Animation Studios, 250, 471 Pizza Hut, 98, 373 Placek, David, 560 PlanetFeedback.com, 496 Planetout Inc., 76 Playstation 3, 18, 280 Pocket Fisherman, 488 Pokemon, 551 Pokphand, C. P., 566 Polaroid, 207, 350 Polo by Ralph Lauren, 372 Pontiac Bonneville, 538 Poo, 560 Pop Secret, 160 Popeil Pocket Fisherman, 489 Popeil, Ron, 488,489,490 Popov, 314 Porsche, 203, 294 Porsche Boxster, 294 Porter, Chuck, 421 Porter, Michael, 523 Post, 185 Post-It Notes, 267 Pottery Barn, 48, 188 Pottery Barn Kids, 188-89 Potty Palooza, 444 Powerade, 409,410 Power Information Network, 215 Power Rangers, 551 Powerpuff Girls, 235 Prada, 94 Pratts, Candy, 248 Premier Dell.com, 495 Prescott, LeeAnn, 199 Press, Jim, 92 Pret a Manger, 62 Pretty Shield Foundation, 590 Price Club, 381 Price, Sol, 381 PriceGrabber.com, 319 Pricehe.com, 319, 496 PriceScan.com, 319 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), 593 Prince Felipe, 361 Pringles, 213 Private Selection, 233 PRIZM NE systems, 191 Procter & Gamble (P&G),4, 5, 6,.15, 18, 54, 55, 75, 81, 89, 99,132, 135, 136-37,185,187,190,196,198-99, 213,224-25,233,238,260,261, 262,263-64,266,272-73,287,293,

323,339,343,351,355,356,357, 383, 392,401,416,426,427,432, 433,434,444,453,459,488,489, 498, 502, 503, 520, 522, 523, 527, 531,552,558,573,597,598, 599 Product Watch, 432 Progresso, 427 Pro-Line, 533 Pronto, 265 Propel Fitness Water, 9 ProQuest, 100,103 Provigo, 390 Prozac, 560 Prudential, 206 Prudential Insurance Company, 254, 532, 543 Pschitt, 560 Publishers Clearing House, 506

'

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBLJ,511 Publix, 367 Puffs, 198 Pull & Bear, 362 Pyrca, 367 e4 Qantas, 243 Quaker Oats, 230 Quality Value Channel (QVC),488,490-91 Quasar, 238 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, 76 Quicken Loans, 494-95 Quietcomfort, 538 Quiznos, 490 QVC, 488,490-91 :I-,

:q Li The Rack, 508 Radioshack, 525 Rainforest Alliance, 81 Ralph Lauren, 315,372 Ramada Inn, 343,469 Ramada Limited, 209 Ramona, Joey, 248 Ramstas, Evan, 558 Rao, Venki, 463 Ray-Ban, 4, 342,410,433, 437 Raymond, Lee, 329 Rayport, Jeffrey F., 518 RAZR phone, 421 RBC Royal Bank, 139 RCA, 278,543 Read, Jeani, 589 Rechtin, Mark, 73 Recipe dog food, 437 Red Bull, 9 Red Cross, 221 Reebok, 36,248, 540 Reed, Stanley, 266 Reeves, Rosser, 207 REI, 377,491 Reinhardt, Andy, 180 Relnartz, Werner, 22 Relska, 314 Renaissance Hotels, 105, 229 Residence Inn by Marriott, 229 Reverend Billy, 578 Revlon, 38, 219, 339,488 Revlon Vital Radiance, 339 Revson, Charles, 219 Rhapsody, 521 Ricks, David A,, 171, 560 Ries, Laura, 235 Right Guard, 273 Ringwald, Molly, 248 The Ritz-Carlton Hotels, 38, 206, 208, 232, \l

240,242-43,515,517,524,525,526

R.J. Reynolds, 202, 253, 580 Roadway Logistics Services, 358 Rocasolano, Letizia Ortiz, 361 Rochdale Securities, 32 Roche Bros., 394 Rock Bottom Restaurants, 408 Roddick, Anita, 442 Rolex, 140, 224,431 Rolling Stone, 248 Rolling Stones, 511, 512 Rollins, Kevin, 480 Rolls-Royce, 224,455,476, 548, 560 Ronco, 488,489 Ronnegard, Evamaria, 165 Room & Board, 287 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 81 Roots, 410

Roper ASW, 405 Rose Bowl, 513 Rosenberg, William, 182 Rotella, Steve, 516 Rowling, J. K., 441, 551 Royal Ahold, 384,393 Rubik's Cube, 269 Rugrats, 235 Rust, Roland T., 57 Ryanair, 306-08 Ryder System, 358 Ryssdal, Kai, 115 i i i

.:. saab, 9 Safeguard, 198 Safeway, 15, 55, 61, 88, 367, 368, 373, 393,394,416,459,472, 560 Sains, Ariene, 266 Sainsbury's, 566 Saks Fifth Avenue, 233,249,276,368, 376,486,526,554 Sales & Marketing Management, 476 Salgueiro, Alex, 423 Sally Beauty Supply, 533 Salvation Army, 6, 27,406 Sam's Choice, 233 Sam's Club, 209, 340, 367, 372, 394, 565, 566 Sarnsung, 26,100, 255, 279,320,324, 339, 587 Samuel Adams, 434 Samuelson, Robert J., 331 San Francisco Zoo, 27 Sanders, Peter, 243 Sand-Freedman, Lisette, 156 Sanyo, 279 Saporito, Bill, 371 Sara Lee Corporation, 94, 234 Sarbib, Jean-Louis, 597 SAS software, 112 Saturday Night Live, 222 Saturn, 213-15,287 Saturn Vue Greenline, 93 Save-A-Lot, 390 Schadler, Ted, 280, 536 Schaich, Ronald, 284 Schendler. Brent, 251-52 Schiller, Gail, 433 Schmeltzer, John, 576 Schmelzer, Randy, 157 Schoen, John W., 331 Scholastic Inc., 441 Scholz, Hanna, 15 Schultz, Howard, 43 Scion (Toyota), 71, 72-73 Scooby DOO,235 Scorsese, Martin, 550 Scotch Tape, 232 Scotchguard, 592 Scott, 501 Scott, Kim, 265 Scott, Lee, 283 Scott Towels, 323 Scotts Turf Builder, 437 Scrubs, 436 Sears, 75, 76, 324, 341, 367, 368, 373, 382, 482,488,489,494,524,527,554 Sears/Kmart, 370 Sebenius, Jame K., 171 Secret, 187, 198, 213 Securities and Exchange Commission, 102 Sega, 551 Segrest, Jen, 165 Segway, 253,522 Seiko, 179, 372

1-9

Seiyu Ltd., 567 Selden, Larry, 24 Sena, Joe and Paula, 532 Sensodyne, 325 Serlen, Bruce, 243 Sermon, Thomas T., 560 Serres, Chris, 346 Serv-a-palooza, 568, 570 ServiceMaster, 488 Serwer, Andy, 296, 304 Sesame Street, 235 7-Eleven, 367, 369,373,457 7UP, 517 Seventh Generation, 88 Seward, John, 379 Sexy Sport, 156 Shamrock Farms, 137 Shankman, Peter H., 525 Sharp, 279 Sharper Image, 428,486 Sheben, Jeffrey, 157 Shell, 369 Shirouzu, Norihiko, 93 ShopNBC, 488 Shop.org, 408 ShopperBak, 120,121 Shopping.com, 382 Shoprite, 394 Shopzilla, 382 Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ, 488,489 Shox, 326 Shiners Hospitals for Children, 174 Siegel, David, 302-04 Siemens, 24, 26 Sierra Mist, 197 Silk Soyrnilk, 48, 232, 234,433 Silk, Stacy, 265 Silver, Spencer, 267 Simester, Duncan, 316 Simmon, Richard, 254 Simmons Market Research Bureau, 76,102 Simple Shoes, 235 Simpson, Jessica, 489 Sinclair, Upton, 580, 581 Singapore Airlines, 37-38, 206, 306,434 Sinopec, 343 Sitch, Kelly, 121 Six Flags, 311 Skin Bracer, 230 Skin-So-Soft, 256 Slammers diary brands, 236 Slurpee, 369 SLVR phone, 421 Small Business Administration, 102 Smartwater, 234 Smirnoff, 314 Smith, Evan, 331 Smith, Lynn, 433 Smucker's, 254 Snapfish, 518 Snapper, 309 Snapple, 437 Snickers, 236 Snook, Bill, 463 Social Marketing Institute (SMI), 223 Soflens, 290 Softsoap, 230 Solley, Sam, 560 Somers, Suzanne, 489 Song Airlines, 302, 323 Sonicare, 293 Sony, 16,18, 26, 76,136,193, 194,278-80, 299,308,310,321-22,345,371,410,

413,437,450,469,493,499, 518, 525,542,543,551,558,583,587 Sony Connect, 521

1-10

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index

Sony VAIO, 558 Sony Walkman, 527 Soup at Hand, 101 Southwest Airlines, 6, 10, 109, 197, 209, 241,302-04,306,323,344,483,

516,524,531 Spade, Kate, 302 SpaghettiOs, 101 Spears, Britney, 489, 513 Speed Stick, 230 Spice Market, 526 Spider-Man Triple Action Web Blaster, 235 Spiegel, 318, 486 Spin, 192 SpongeBob Squarepants, 235,236,575 Sportmart, 209 SpringHill Suites by Marriott, 229 Sprint Nextel, 4 Sprite, 197, 375, 459, 410, 440 SRI Consulting, 140-41 Srivastave, Joydeep, 316 St. Ives, 533 St. Joseph Aspirin, 132 Stacey, E. Craig, 417 Standard Oil, 232,580 Staples, 4, 204, 205-06,367, 382,433,457 Star Fox Adventure, 503 Starbucks, 43-44,49,81,113,141, 182-84,208,218,232, 345, 369, 372,433,437,442,490,549, 550 Starburst, 236 Starter clothing, 249 Starter Official sneakers, 36 Starwood Preferred Guest, 469 Static Guard, 533 Stat-USA, 102 Stecklow, Steve, 513 Steelcase, 193 Stein, Jason, 410 Steinberg, Brian, 423 Steiner, Christopher, 49 Steiner Optical, 197 Steinway & Sons, 294, 295-96 Stern, David, 540, 542 Stevens, Stacey, 184 Stew Leonard's, 20 Stewart, John, 230 Stewart, Tony, 4 Stila cosmetics, 196 Stojakovic, Peja, 541 Stoll, John D., 93 Stonyfield Farm, 522 Stop & Shop, 393 Stop-N-GO,367 Storch, Gerald, 283-84 Stout, Erin, 289 Straberg, Hans, 265 StUbHub, 511-13 Style, 224 Suave, 427 Subaru, 9, 76,93 Suburbia stores, 565 Subway, 66,120-21,203,373,490,575 Sub-zero, 519 SugarTwin, 533 Sullivan, Mike, 151 Sun Maid raisins, 387 Sun Microsystems, 495 Sunbeam, 560 Sundown Sunscreen, 437 Sunglass Hut, 342,421 sunkst, 226, 227, 387 Sunsilk hair care, 432 SunTrust Bank, 228,236 Super 8,469

Super Bowl, 2,202,263,402,405,406,414, 422,430,432,444,501,512,588 Super Kmart Center, 367, 370 Superama, 565 Superman Mighty Muscles Suit, 235 Supermercados Amigo, 566 SuperTarget, 367 SuperValu,'390 Sure, 198 Suri, Sanjay, 599 Swartz, Jeffrey, 568-70 Sweat, Ed, 3 4 Sweet Charity, 433 Swiffer, 560 Swiffer CarpetFlick, 224-25, 272 Swiffer WetJet, 89, 489 Swing-N-Slide, 85 Swiss Army, 237,491 Symantec, 450 Szydlowski, Larry, 476

1' Tabasco, 268 Taco Bell, 20,287 Tae-Bo, 489 TAG Heuer, 222,372 Tagamet, 325 Tagliabue, John, 362 Talen, Bill, 578 Tam, Pui-Wing, A9,457 Tarnagotchi, 551 Target, 4,5,49, 50,55,65, 78, 113, 188, 200, 205, 233, 240, 249, 283, 284, 315, 339, 347, 367, 369, 370, 371, 375, 384,416,437,491, 515, 520, 529,530,565 Tashiro, Hiroko, 180 Taylor, Catherine, 423 Taylor, Chuck, 248 Taylor, Jack, 126 Tea Tree Oil Facial Wash, 232 Technics, 238 Ted Airlines, 323 Tedeschi, Bob, 513 Teflon Fabric Protector, 162 Tenet Healthcare, 174 Tenser, James, 526 The Terminal, 433 Tesco, 384, 566 Texas Instruments (TI), 253, 289-90, 523 Thickburger, 575 Thomaselli, Rich, 465 Thompson, Ross, 171 Thompson, Stephanie, 576 Thomson Dialog, 102 3M, 11,229,252,254-55,266-67,591-92 Ticketmaster, 511, 512 L3 Ticketmaster.com, 319 Tide, 15,132, 190, 198, 199, 203, 213, 230,231,232, 268,272,316 Tide with Bleach, 261, 427 Tide with Downy, 531 Timberland, 520, 568-70 Eme magazine, 252,438,550 Time Warner, 19, 68,435 Time-Life, 489 Timex, 350,431 Tiplady, Rachel, 362 TiVo, 430, 432,493 TJ Maxx, 367,371,377 TJX Companies, 371 TLC, 406 Toastmaster, 43 7 Tobias, Jim, 77 Today Show, 441-42

Todo Dia, 566 Tokyo Disneyland Resort, 554 Tommy Hilfiger, 162, 235, 527 Tony the Tiger, 434 Toon Disney, 138 Top Shop, 361 Toro, 437 Toshiba, 279, 280, 371,450 Total, 160,226 Touch Generation, 187 Touch Media Group, 504 Tourneau, 490 Tower Records, 345 TownePlace Suites by Mmiott, 229 Toyota, 5,13, 26,4647,69, 71, 72-73, 88,92,121,136,151, 190, 208,213, 228-29,231,238,293,329,350,

455,476,543 Toyota Camry, 218,551 Toyota Prius, 13,92-93, 203, 590 Toyota Scion, 228, 238 Toyota Yaris, 203, 293 TOYS'R' US, 282-84,364 TrackPass, 3 Trader Joe's, 233 Trans World Entertainment, 345 Transportation Security Agency, 175 Trap-Ease America, 60-61 ?f.avelocity,382 Travelodge, 469 Treacy, Michael, 524 Tremor, 135,136-37 TRESernrne, 533 Triport headphones, 538 ?kix, 226,437,575,576 Tropical Forest Foundation, 418 Trottman, Melanie, 304 Trout, Jack, 417 Tru-Green, 488 Trump, Donald, 222 TRUSTe, 508 Tsiantar, Dody, 33 Tucker, Shirley, 470 Tu11, Donald S., 105 Tums, 325 Tupperware, 256 W k , Doug, 115 Twner, Melanie, 233 Tweeter, 316 TwentySomething, 157 Twinkies, 369 Tyco, 87 Tylenol, 12,48,405, 522 Tyler, Joe, 329, 505 m a n , Daniel, 465 I!

i

:1

it

kXC

Ueberroth, Heidi, 542 Underwater Adventures, 377 Underwood, Ryan, 49,81 Unilever, 96,99,100, 196, 207, 233, 276, 337,432,433, 527,531, 552, 556, 587,588-89 United Airlines, 303, 323,433 United Auto Workers (UAW), 213 United Parcel Service (UPS), 4, 19, 158-60,206,583-84 United Way, 597 Universal Studios, 543 UPN, 19,443 UPS. see United Parcel Service (UPS) UPS Supply Chain Solutions, 358 Urban League, 133 Urban Outfitters, 78, 344 US. Air Force, 164

Name, Organization, Brand, and Company Index US Airways, 302-04,303 U.S. Army, 4 U.S. Census, 102 U.S. Census Bureau, 116,194 U.S. Commerce Department, 175 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 330 U.S. Defense Department, 371 U.S. Department of Justice, 325 U.S. Global Investors, 331 U.S. International Trade Commission, 561 US. Navy, 488 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 100,102 U.S. Postal Service, 28, 297, 385,452 U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, 100 U.S. Small Business Administration, 116,175 U.S. Southern Shrimp Alliance, 561 U.S. Time Company, 350 USA Today, 405 USAA, 484 Useem, Jerry, 371 Utz potato chips, 315

"j

I.,

Valdes-Dapena, Peter, 93 Value Clubs, 566 Value Innovation Program (VIP) Center, 255 Van Ameringen, Marc, 598 Van Camps Pork & Beans, 315 van der Pool, Lisa, 249 van Stolk, Peter, 49 Vans, 136 Vans Triple Crown, 71 Varvatos, John, 249 Vascellaro, Jessica E., 505 Vasilash, Gary S., 93 Veg-0-Matic, 488, 489 Venus, 440 Verizon, 222, 238, 500 Vermont Teddy Bear Company, 32 Versace, 372 Vespa, 189 Veteran Affairs Medical Centers, 174 Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), 531, 532 Viacom, 76 Victoria's Secret, 121, 156-57, 232, 373 Victorinox, 237 VideoMining, 121 ViewSonic, 450 Viking, 208,224,294,519 Vildozo, Guido, 215 W S , 565 Virgin Atlantic Airlines, 306, 396,422 Virgin Records, 345 Virign Atlantic Airways, 303, 522 Visa, 50, 188, 500, 525 VisaUSA, 496 Vistakon, 521 Vitango, 598-99 VNU NV, 117 Vocalpoint, 135,136-37 Vodafone, 308 Vogue, 156,248, 342,361,438,503,580 Volkswagen, 19, 135,397,446 Volvo, 167,203, 204, 208, 232,455,492 Von Bergen, Jane M., 157 von Hoffman, Constantine, 273 Vongerichten, Georges, 216 Vranica, Suzanne, 423 VW Beetle, 248

y$i " 3

Wade, Dwyane, 249 Waffle Trainer, 34 Waldbaun's, 394 Wales, Dan, 392 Walgreens, 179, 337 Walker, Elaine, 423 Wall Street Journal, 24,438, 504 Wallace, Rusty, 4 Wid-Mart,4,8, 15,24,38,43,45,53,55, 65, 75, 78,81, 96, 97, 113,133,161, 162,185,187,188,198-99,205,

207, 209, 229, 233, 236,249,276, 282-83,284,287,293,309,324,

329, 337, 339, 340, 341, 342, 343, 345, 347, 349, 351, 354, 355,356, 357,361, 364,366, 367,368,369, 370-71,375,377,380,381,382,

383, 384,416,442,459,475,484, 495, 515, 516, 517, 520, 523, 524, 526,527,529,530,531,533, . 565-67,571,573,578,581,584, 587 Wal-Mart Supercenter, 353, 367, 550 Walsh, Chris, 304 The Walt Disney Company, 4,6,38,4142, 68, 206, 219, 230, 231, 235,238,471, 488,489,503,527,549,554 The Walt Disney Studios Park, 551 The Walt Disney World Resort, 492 Walton, Sam, 4,381 Wanamaker, John, 412 Wandersleben, Richard, 184 Ward, Ted, 424-25 Wardell, Jane, 326 Warner Bros., 279 Warner, Fara, 477 Warner Home Video, 280 Warren, Susan, 304 Washington Mutual, 70-71, 514-16, 524 Wariserman, Todd, 137,273 Water by Culligan Profile Performance, 236 Wave'radio, 538 The WB, 19 WD-40 Company, 270-71 WE tv, 187-88 WeatherChannel.com, 501 Weathers, Natalie, 157 Weber grill, 437 Webster, John S., 115 Webvan, 253,394 Wegman's, 241 Weight Watchers, 185 Welch, David, 93 Welch, Jack, 4 5 4 6 Welitzkin, Paul, 477 Wellbeing, 392 Wells, Melanie, 137 Wells-Fargo, 268 Wendy's, 46, 66,421, 575 Wertkauf, 566 Western Auto, 373 Western Union, 517 Westin Hotels, 207 WestJet, 99 Weston, Liz Pulliam, 532 Wetherell, Donna, 136, 137 Werner, Les, 156 Wheaties, 160,222,226 Whelan, Tensie, 81 Whirlpool, 204, 265,349, 519 Whirlpool White Magic, 549 Whitaker, Rick and Rose, 230 White Barn Candle Company, 374

1-31 1

White Cloud, 233 White Wave, 48 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, 551 Whole Foods Market, 364-66 WholeHealthMD reference library, 365 Whopper, 398 Wie, Michelle, 409,410 Wiersema, Fred, 524 Wikipedia, 135 Wild Planet, 155 Wilkinson, Stephan, 296 Williams, Serena and Venus, 145 Williams, Vanessa, 489 Williams-Sonoma, 367, 373, 526 Willson, Meredith, 452 Wilson, Dave, 151 Wilson, Woodrow, 81 Wine.com, 497 Winfrey, Oprah, 138,222,278 Winnie the Pooh, 235 Winslet, Kate, 188 Wise, Michael Z., 296 Wolcott, Jennifer, 505 Wolfschmidt, 314 Wonder, Stevie, 248 Wood, Mary Beth, 156 Woods, Tiger, 206, 222, 410 Woodyard, Chris, 73 The World Bank, 547, 597 World of Warcraft, 187 World Trade Organization (WTO), 544-45 World Wildlife Fund, 434 WorldCom, 87 Wuebben, Ted, 4 d

-

Xerox, 179, 459 Xerox Corporation Equipment Remanufacture and Parts Reuse Program, 584 XM Satellite Radio, 44 1C

Yahoo!, 106, 234, 345, 382,484,497, 501, 502,505 Yahoo! Music Unlimited, 521 Yahoo! Shopping, 319,497 Yamaha, 16,297 Yankelovich Monitor, 86-87, 103 Yaohan, 384 Yee, Amy, 180 Yellowstone National Park, 41 YMCA, 27 Yoplait Yogurt, 160,237 Young & Rubicam (Y&R),421 YouTube, 135,136,206 7

zahn,Paula, 295 Zara, 342,361-62 Zarley, Craig, 457 Zegna, Ermenegildo, 525 Zeidler, Sue, 280 Zeithamal, Valerie A., 57 Zest, 198 Zhao, Yilu, 532 ZhiZhi, Mengke, 542 Zima, 560 Zimerman, Krystian, 296 Ziploc, 232 Zisa, Anna, 190 Zody, 590-91 Zoo Doo Compost Company, 313

1-1 2

Subject Index

Note: Italicized page numbers indicate illustrations. #I U'L

Access by vulnerable or unauthorized groups, 507 Accessible market segments, 194 Account development executives, A-34 Account executives, A-34 Account planners, A-34 Accumulators, 139 Acquisition, 253, 580 Action programs, A-8-A-9 Actionable market segmentation, 194 Actual products, 219 Adapted marketing mix, 556 Adaptive criteria, 349 Administered VMS, 343 Adoption process, 150-51 Advertainment, 432 Advertising costs of, 571 defined, 426 developing strategy, 428-38 evaluating, 438-39 international decisions, 4 4 0 4 1 jobs in, A-33-A-34 online, 500-502 organizing for, 439 as promotion tool, 398, 414 setting budgets, 428 setting objectives, 426-28 Advertising agency, 439 Advertising appeals, 431 Advertising budget, 428 Advertising media, 435-38 Advertising objectives, 426-28 Advertising promotion, 418 Advertising specialties, 471-72 Advertising strategy, 428-38 Affiliate programs, 501-02 Affordable method, 412 African American consumers, 132-33 Age and life-cycle segmentation, 187 Age compression, 157 Age, life cycles and, 139 Agents, 387, 388 AIDA model, 405-07 A10 dimensions, 140 Air carriers, 355-56 Airtruck, 356 Alliances, 501-02 Allowance pricing, 312 Alternative evaluation, 148 Alternative media, 436,437 Americanization, 549-5 1 Analysis, 52 Angel customers, 24 Appeals, types of, 405 Approach, 466-67 Art directors, A-33 Asian American consumers, 133 Assessments, of marketing information needs, 97-98 Atrnosphere(s) as media type, 409 in store, 376 Attitudes, 14445, 149 Attributes, 223-25 '

Audience engagement, 438 Audience quality, 438 Audiovisual materials, 443 Augmented products, 220 Automobile Information Disclosure Act, 327 Q ' L;Y

Baby boomers, 69-70 'Banners, 500 "Barnacles,"~22 Barter, 548 Basing-point pricing, 318 Behavioral segmentation, 386, 189-91 Beliefs, 14445, 232 Benchmarking, 519 Benefit segmentation, 189-90 Blanket contract, 172 BIo~s,495-96 Boston Consulting Group Approach, 3 9 4 0 Brand contract, 401 Brand conviction, 146 Brand equity managers, 239 Brand experiences, 6 Brand familiarity, 146 Brand management, jobs in, A-34-A-35 Brand personality, 141 Brand switching, 147 Branded entertainment, 432 Branded variants, 316 Brand(ing) brand equity, 230-3 1 development, 237-38 extensions, 237-3 8 managing, 238-39 name selection, 232-33 new, 238 in PLC concept, 268 positioning, 231-32 productlservice decisions and, 225-26 sponsorship, 233-37 Break-even analysis, A-13 Break-even pricing, 291-92, A-12 Break-even volume, 292 Brick-and-mortar companies, 24,493, 496 Broadcast media, 409 Brokers, 387, 388 Budgets, 53, A-9 Builders, 139 Business analysis, 259 Business buyer behavior business buying process,~'i69-72 defined, 160 e-procurement, 172-74 influences on, 167-69 institutions and government markets, 174-76 participants in process, 166-67 types of buying situations, 163-66 Business buying process, 160 Business, legislation regulating, 82-84 Business markets, 66,160-62,192-93 Business portfolios, 3 9 4 4 Business promotion tools, 472-73 Business services, 222 Business to business (B2B) online marketing, 495 Business-to-business (B2B) companies, 416 Business-to-business (B-to-B)marketers, 160 Business-to-business e-commerce, 24 Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, 416

Business to consumer (B2C) online marketing, 494-95 "Butterflies," 22 Buyback, 548 Buyer decision process evaluation of alternatives, 148 information search, 1 4 7 4 8 need recognition, 147 for new products, 150-52 postpurchase behavior, 149 purchase decision, 1 4 8 4 9 Buyer-readiness stages, 404 Buyers, 166, 482 Buyer's rights, 582 Buying behavior complex, 1 4 5 4 6 dissonance-reducing, 146 habitual, 1 4 6 4 7 variety-seeking, 147 Buying center, 166 Buying unit, 162 Buzz marketing, 135, 136,408 By-product pricing, 311 q-,

-= Call plans, 462-64 Call reports, 465 Cannibalization, A-25 CAN-SPAM Act, 505 Capital items, 222 Captive-product pricing, 310-1 1 Careers, in marketing, A-27-A-36 Caring capitalism, 27 Cash discounts, 312 Cash rebates, 316 Cash refunds, 471 Cash-and-carry wholesalers, 387 Catalog marketing, 485-87 Category killers, 367, 369 Causal research, 101 Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA),546 Central business districts, 379 Cents-off deals, 471 Chain ration method, A-17 Chain stores, 372 Channel conflicts, 339 Channel differentiation, 206 Channel levels, 324-27, 338 Channels of communication, 407-09 Channels within nations, 562 Character licensing, 235 Checkout scanners, 109 Chief marketing officer (CMO),55 Chief privacy officer (CPO),119 Children, as influence on buyer behavior, 138 Chinese Americans, 74 Chinese demographic, 68-69 Citizen-action publics, 67 Clayton Act (1914), 323, 352 Click-and-mortar companies, 24,493, 496,497-98 Click-only companies, 493,496,497 Closed-end questions, 109 Closing, 468 Club marketing programs, 16 Co-brandling, 233, 236-37 Code of ethics, AMA, 593, 594-95

Cognitive dissonance, 149 Commercial noise, 580

Subject Index Commercial sources, 148 Commercialization, 262-63 Commission merchants, 388 Communicability, 152 Communication adaptation, 559 Communication effects, of an ad, 439 Communications channels of, 407-09 choosing media, 407-09 collecting feedback, 411-12 designing a message, 405-07 determining objectives, 404-05 identifying target audience and, 404 process, 402-04 selecting message source, 409-10 Community shopping centers, 380 Company, other groups in, 65 Company resources, 201 Company sales force, 348 Comparative advertising, 427 Comparison pricing, 326 Compatibility, 152 Compensation international trade and, 548 of salespeople, 461-62 Competitive advantage, 204, 207, 516 Competitive intelligence, 99 Competitive intelligence system, 522 Competitive marketing strategies, 516, 522-34 Competitive review, A-4 Competitive-party method, 412-13 Competitor map, 518 Competitor-centered company, 534 Competitors analysis of, 516-22 assessing, 518 in company's microenvironment, 66-67 identifying, 517-18 marketing strategies of, 201 myopia of, 517 new-product ideas from, 256 reactions to price changes, 322 selecting which to attack or avoid, 520-22 strategies and pricing by, 299 Complex buying behavior, 1 4 5 4 6 Complexity, 152 Component materials, 222 Concentrated marketing, 197 Concept development and testing, 257-58 Concept testing, 257-58 Conformance quality, 224 Connectors, 136 Consistency, of product mix, 230 Consumer behavior buyer decision process, 147-52 characteristics affecting, 1 3 1 4 5 international, 153 model of, 130-31 types of, 1 3 0 4 7 Consumer buyer behavior, 130 Consumer products, 220-21 Consumer Product Safety Act (1972), 275 Consumer to business (C2B) online marketing, 496 Consumer to consumer (C2C) online marketing, 495-96 Consumerism, 581-82 Consumer-oriented marketing, 586-87 Consumers changing spending patterns of, 78 expectations of, 149 marketing's impact on, 571-77 markets, 66, 130 promotions, 469,470-72

reactions to price changes, 321-22 rights of, 582 Contact methods, 105-08 Content sponsorships, 501 Contests, 472 Contextual advertising, 501 Continuity, 438 Continuous innovation, 529 Continuous inventory replenishment systems, 356 Contract logistics. See Third-party logistics (3PL) provider Contract manufacturing, 554 Contractual VMS, 3 4 2 4 3 Contribution margin, A-14 Control, 55-56 Control issues, 349 Controls, A-9 Convenience products, 220-21 Convenience stores, 367, 368-69 Conventional distribution channel, 340 Conventions, 472 Conversion rates, 120 Copy, in an ad, 435 Copywriters, A-33 Core beliefs, 86-89 Core benefits, 219 Corporate chains, 372, 373 Corporate identity materials, 443 Corporate image advertising, 222 Corporate marketing ethics policies, 591 Corporate Web site, 499 Coshopping, 157 Cost-based pricing, 285, 288, 290-91 Cost-plus pricing, 290-91, A-12 Costs at different production levels, 289-90 as function of production, 290 types of, 288-89 Counterpurchase, 548 Countertrade, 548 Coupons, 470-71 Creative concept, 431 Cross-functional, cross-company teams, 357 Cues, 144 Cultural environment of company, 86-89 global marketing and, 548-51 Cultural factors, affecting consumer behavior, 131-34 Cultural pollution, 579-80 Culture, 131 Current marketing situation, A-2-A-5 Customer business development (CBD) teams, 459 Customer databases defined, 483 direct marketing and, 483-84 Customer equity, 21-22, 231 Customer evangelists, 14 Customer intimacy, 524, 525-26 Customer lifetime value, 20 Customer management, 9 Customer management organization, 55 Customer perceived value, 13 Customer relationship management (CRM), 16-18,45,112-13,468 Customer relationships changing nature of, 16-18 management of, 13-16 partner relationship management, 18-1 9 Customer sales force structure, 454-55 Customer satisfaction, 13-1 5 Customer value, 7, 13

Customer value analysis, 520 Customer-centered company, 534 Customer-centered new-product development, 263-64 Customer-driven companies, 10-11 Customer-driven marketing strategy designing, 8-12 differentiation and positioning, 203-10 introduction, 184-85 market segmentation, 185-94 as marketing strategy, 48, 50 target marketing, 195-203 Customers angel vs. demon, 24 capturing value from, 19-22 loyalty and retention of, 20 market types, 66 needs, wants, and demands of, 6 new-product ideas from, 255 retaining and growing, 17-18 Customer-segment pricing, 313 Customer-value marketing, 587 2$ !L

4

Data mining, 1 1 2 Data smog, 96 Data warehouses, 112 Database marketing, 507-08 Database services, 103 Deceptive practices, 572-73 Deceptive pricing, 326 Deciders, 166 Decision process, 162 Decline stage, 271-73, 274 Decoding, 403 Deficient products, 590 Delighting the customer, 150-5 1 Demand chain, 335 Demand curve, 297 Demand management, 9 Demand, pricing and, 294, 296-99 Demands, 6 Demarketing, 9 Demographic environment, 68-77 Demographic markets, 43 Demographic segmentation, 186, 187-88 Demography, 68-77 Demon customers, 24 Demonstration, 467 Department stores, 367, 368 Depth, of product mix, 230 Derived demand, 161 Descriptive research, 101 Design, 224-25 Design for environment (DFE) practices, 584 Differences, promoting, 207 Differentiable market segmentation, 194 Differentiated marketing, 196-97 Differentiation as competitive strategy, 523 defined, 50,185 positioning and, 203-10 service, 24344 Digital age, 23-24 Digital coupons, 492 Digital direct marketing technologies, 491-93 Direct exporting, 553 Direct investment, 555 Direct marketing customer databases and, 483-84 customer relationships and, 17 defined, 415,480 forms of, 484-93 growth and benefits of, 481-83

,

Subject Index Direct marketing-continued integrated, 505-06 new model, 480-81 online, 493-505 as promotion tool, 399 public policy issues in, 506-09 Direct marketing channels, 338 Direct-mail marketing, 484-85 Direct-response television marketing (DRTV),488-91 Direct-retailing channels, 381 Disabled customers, 77 Disadvantaged consumers, 577 Discount stores, 367, 370 Discounts, 312 Disintermediation, 344-47 Display media, 409 Dissonance-reducing buying behavior, 146 Distinctive competencies, 38 Distribution centers, 354 Distribution channels. See also Marketing channels global marketing and, 562 Distribution, costs of, 571 Distribution review, A-4-A-5 Distributor brand, 233 Distributors new-product ideas from, 256 as wholesalers, 387 Diversification, 44 Divisibility, 152 Doha Round, 545 Do-not-call legislation, 487-88 Dot-coms, 24,493,497 Downsizing, 44 Drive, 142-43, 144 Drop shippers, 387 Dumping charges, 561 Dynamic pricing, 318-19 Early adopters, 152 Early majority, 152 Echo boomers, 71 Economic communities, 545 Economic conditions, 299 Economic environment of company, 77-78 global marketing and, 5 4 6 4 8 Economic factors, 193 Economic situation, as influence on buyer behavior, 140 Editorial quality, 438 Elastic demand, 298 Electronic data interchange (EDI), 356 E-mail, direct marketing and, 485, 503-04 Emotional appeals, 405-06 Encoding, 403 End user, 533 Engel's laws, 78 Enlightened marketing, 586-91 Entrepreneurial marketing, 522-5 3 Environmental concerns, 79 Environmental factors, for business buyers, 168 Environmental sustainability, 583 Environmentalism, 582-85 Environmentally sustainable strategies, 79-80 E-procurement, 172-74 E-tailers, 497 E-tailing, 381-82 Ethics AMA code of, 591-93,594-95 customer relatinoships and, 26-27

marketing intelligence and, 100 in marketing research, 118-22 political environment and, 84-86 Ethnographic research, 104-05 Evaluation, 473 Evaluation of alternatives, 148 Events, 409 ' Everyday low costs (EDLC), 565 Everyday low pricing (EDLP), 287,377, 565 E-waste, 80 Exchange controls, 544 Exchanges, 7 Exclusive dealing, 352 Exclusive distribution, 348, 352 Exclusive territorial agreements, 352 Execution styles, 432-34 Executive summary, A-2 Expense reports, 465 Experience curve, 290 Experiencers, 141 Experiences, 6-7, 219 Experiential retailing, 377 Experiential sources, 148 Experimental research, 105 Experiments, 106-08 Exploratory research, 101 Exporting, 552-53, 563 External idea sources, 255-56 External information sources, 102 External stimuli, 147 Extranet links, 172 Extranets, 113 -

p Factory outlets, 367, 371-72 Fads, 268-69 Fair competition, 419 Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (1966), 227 Families, 72-74, 138 Fantasy style, 434 Fashion, 268 Fast fashion, 361-62 Fax mail, 485 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 275 Federal Trade Commission Act (1914), 227 Feedback, 403,411-12 Field sales force, 457 Financial intermediaries, 66 Financial publics, 67 Fishyback, 356 Fixed costs, 288,291-92, A-11 Fixed fee, 311 i Fixed prices, 318 Fluctuating demand, 162 FOB-origin pricing, 317-18 Focus, 524 Focus group interviewing, 106, 107 Follow-up, 468 Format, of an ad, 434 Formulated marketing, 523 Four C's of marketing, 51 Four P's of marketing, 12,47, 50-51, 130,163 Fragmentation, 400 Franchises, 342, 372,373 Free goods, 472 Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), 546 Free trade zones, 545 Freight-absorption pricing, 318 Frequency marketing programs, 16 Frequency, of message, 435-38 Ti

i

Frontal attack, 531 Full-line forcing, 352 Full-service retailers, 368 Full-service wholesalers, 386, 387 Functional discounts, 312 Functional organization, 55 ."

2ITi

.,.. -.2

Games, 472 Gatekeepers, 166 Gateway marketing, 157 Gay consumers, 76-77 Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) market, 76 Gender segmentation, 187-88 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 5 4 4 4 5 General line wholesalers, 387 General merchandise wholesalers, 387 General need description, 169 General public, 67 Generation X, 70-71 Generation Y, 71 Generational marketing, 71-72 Geodemographic segmentation, 191 Geographic market, 533 Geographic organization, 55 Geographic segmentation, 185-87,193 Geographical markets, 43 Geographical organizations, 563 Geographical pricing, 317-18 Getting Started customers, 139 GLBT market, 76 Global firm, 543 Global marketing cultural environment, 548-51 current state of, 5 4 2 4 4 direct investment, 555 economic environment, 54648 exporting, 552-53 international trade system, 54446 joint venturing, 553-55 original choices, 563 political-legal environment, 548 program choices, 555-62 reasons for, 551-52 Global organizations, 563 Globalization, 25-26 Goals, setting, 38-39 Good-value pricing, 287 Government intervention, 79 Government markets, 66,174-76 Government publics, 67 Green marketing programs, 583 Green movement, 79-80 Gross margin percentage, A-20 Group interviewing, 106 Groups, 134-37 Growth, 43 Growth stage, 270,274 Growth-share matrix, 39

M Habitual buying behavior, 1 4 6 4 7 Handling objectives, 468 Harmful products, 573-74 Harvesting the product, 273 Headline, in an ad, 434-35 Hierarchy of needs, 143 High prices, 571-72 High-low pricing, 287, 377 High-pressure selling, 573 Hispanic consumers, 131-32 Home shopping channels, 488 Horizontal conflict, 339 Horizontal marketing systems, 343

Subject Index Humor, in advertising, 405-06 Hybrid marketing channels, 343 Hypermarkets, 369 &'

Idea generation, 254-56 Idea screening, 256 Ideas marketing, 223 Illustration, in an ad, 434-35 Image differentiation, 206 Image style, 434 Immersion groups, 106 Impact, of message, 435-38 Implementation, 53-54 Inbound distribution, 352 Inbound telephone marketing, 487 Incentives, 473 Income, changes in, 78 Income distribution, 78,547 Income segmentation, 188 Income statement, A-18, A-19 Independent off-price retailers, 367, 371 Indirect attack, 531 Indirect exporting, 553 Indirect marketing channels, 338 Individual factors, for business buyers, 169 Individual interviewing, 106 Individual marketing, 200-201 Industrial distributors, 348, 387 Industrial economies, 78, 547 Industrial products, 221-22 Industrializing economies, 547 Inelastic demand, 162, 298 Influencers, 166 The influentials, 135 Infomercials, 488,489-90, 506-09 Information search, 1 4 7 4 8 Informative advertising, 427 Ingredient labeling, 582 Innovation, 253,255,266 Innovation management system, 264 Innovative marketing, 587 Innovativeness, differences in, 151-52 Innovators, 141 Inside sales force, 457 Inside-out perspectives, 10 Institutional markets, 174 Integrated direct marketing, 505-06 Integrated logistics management, 356-58 Integrated marketing communications (IMC),399402,418-19 Integrated marketing mix, 50-51 Integrated marketing program, 12 Intensive distribution, 348 Interactive marketing, 242 Interactive TV (ITV), 492-93 Intermarket segmentation, 193-94 Intermediaries, 348-49, 562 Intermodal transportation, 356 Internal databases, 98-99 Internal idea sources, 254-55 Internal marketing, 24142 Internal publics, 67 Internal stimuli, 147 International advertising, 440-41 International consumer behavior, 153% International distribution channels, 349-50 International divisions, 563 International marketing. See Global marketing International marketing research, 117-18 International markets, 66, 193-94 International pricing, 320

International product and services marketing, 275-76 International subsidiaries, 563 International trade system, 54446 Internet catalog marketing and, 486 defined, 23-24 direct marketing and, 480-81 e-procurement, 172-74 fraud on, 506-07 logistics transportation and, 356 nonstore retailing and, 381-82 surveys, 106-08 Internet marketing, 84 Internet service providers (ISPs),497 Interpersonal factors, for business buyers, 168-69 Interstitials, 500 Intranet, 113 Intrapreneurial programs, 254-55 Intrepreneurial marketing, 523 Introduction stage, 269-70, 274 Invasion of privacy, direct marketing and, 507-08 Inventory management, 354-55 Inventory turnover rate, A-20 Issues, A-6-A-7 Jobbers, 387 Joint ownership, 554-55 Joint venturing, 553-55 Junk e-mail, 503-04 Just-in-time logistics systems, 354-55 Kiosk marketing, 492 Labeling, 227 Laggards, 152 Late majority, 152 Leading adopters, 135 Learning, 144 Learning curve, 290 Length, of product mix, 229-30 Lesbian consumers, 76-77 Less-for-much-lesspositioning, 209 Licensed brand, 233 Licensing, 235-36, 554 Life-cycle stages, 139 Lifestyle as advertising execution style, 433 as influence on buyer behavior, 140 Lifestyle centers, 380 Lifestyles of health and sustainability (LOHAS) market, 88 Limited-line store, 367 Limited-service retailers, 368 Limited-service wholesalers, 386, 387 Line extensions, 237 Line filling, 229 Line stretching, 228-29 Local marketing, 198-200 Local publics, 67 Location of new product launch, 263 retailers and, 378-79 wholesalers and, 389 Location pricing, 313 LOHAS market, 88 Long-run average cost (LRAC) curve, 290 Long-run welfare, 11 Loss leaders, 316 Loss-leader pricing, 315-16

1-1 5

Low-interest financing, 317 Loyalty status, 190-91

& Macroenvironment cultural environment, 86-89 defined, 64 demographic environment, 68-77 economic environment, 77-78 forces in, 68 natural environment, 79-80 political environment, 82-86 technical environment, 80-82 Madison & Vine, 431,432-33 Magnuson-MossWarranty Act (1975), 275 Mail questionnaires, 106 Mail-order wholesalers, 387 Maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products, 385,389-90 Major media types, 435-36 "Make and sell" philosophy, 10 Management contracting, 554 Management, of marketing process, 52-56 Manufactured materials, 222 Manufacturer's agency, 348 Manufacturer's agents, 387 Manufacturer's brand, 233-34 Manufacturer's sales branches and offices, 388 Manufacturer-sponsored retailer/wholesaler franchise system, 342 Market challenger strategies, 527, 530-31 Market challenges, 527 Market description, A-3 Market development, 43 Market differentiation, 48, 50 Market environment, 38 Market followers, 527 Market follower strategies, 527, 531 Market growth rate, 3 9 4 0 Market leaders, 527 Market leader strategies, 527-30 Market management organization, 55 Market modification, 270 Market nichers, 527 Market nicher strategies, 527, 531-34 Market niches, 48 Market offerings, 6-7, 2 18-1 9 Market penetration, 43 Market pioneer, 270 Market potential, A-16 Market rollout, 263 Market segment, 48 Market segmentation behavioral, 186, 189-91 business markets, 192-93 defined, 8, 48, 184 demographic, 186,187-88 effective, 194 geographic, 185-87 international markets, 193-94 psychographic, 186,188-89 using multiple bases, 191-92 Market share, 428, 529-30, A-19 Market targeting, 48,185 Market variability, 201 Market-centered company, 534 Marketing. See also specific types analysis, 52 budget, 53 careers in, A-27-A-36 defining, 4-5 department organization, 54-55 impact on other businesses, 580-81 impact on society as a whole, 577-80

1-16

Subject Index

Marketing. See also specific typescontinued of international products and services, 275-76 legislation affecting, 83 new landscape of, 23-28 pIEtK&lg, 52-53 regulating, 581-86 sample financial analysis, A-11-A-26 social criticisms of, 571-81 Marketing audit, 55 Marketing channels behavior and organization of, 338-47 defined, 335 design decisions, 347-50 management decisions, 350-5 1 nature and importance of, 335-38 number of levels, 338 public policy and distribution decisions, 351-52 Marketing communications mix, 398-99 Marketing concept, 10-11 Marketing control, 55-56 Marketing dashboards, 57 Marketing environment defined, 64 macroenvironment, 67-89 microenvironment, 64-67 responding to, 89 Marketing implementation, 53-54 Marketing information analyzing, 111-1 3 assessing needs, 97-98 developing, 98-100 distributing and using, 113 introduction, 96-97 marketing research, 100-111 other considerations, 113-22 Marketing information system (MIS), 97 Marketing intelligence, 99-100 Marketing intermediaries, 65-66 Marketing logistics defined, 352 functions, 354-56 jobs in, A-36 management of, 356-58 nature and importance of, 352-53 system goals of, 353 Marketing management, 8,9-12 Marketing mix, 5,12, 50, 389 Marketing mix modification, 271 Marketing myopia, 6 Marketing organization, A-8 Marketing plan contents of, 54 purpose and content of, A-1 relationships and, A-2 research and, A-1 sample, A-2-A-9 Marketing process, 5, 29 Marketing research collecting primary data, 103-10 defined, 100, A-8 developing the plan, 101-02 gathering secondary data, 102-03 implementing the plan, 110 international, 117-18 interpreting and reporting the findings, 111 jobs in, A-36 objectives, 102 process, 101 public policy and ethics in, 118-22 in small businesses and nonprofits, 114-1 7

Marketing return on investment (ROI), A-22 Marketing return on sales (ROS), A-21 Marketing services agencies, 66 Marketing strategy customer-driven, 48, 50 defined, 47 ' development, 258-5 9 statement, 258-59 Marketing tools, A-7 Marketing Web site, 499 Market-oriented mission statements, 37 Market-penetration pricing, 309 Markets, defined, 7-8 Market-skimming pricing, 308 Markets-of-one marketing, 200 Markup chain, A-13 Markup pricing, 291, A-12 Markups, 572, A-13 Maslow's hierarchy of needs, 143 Mass customization, 200, 200-201 Mass luxury movement, 94 Mass media, 400,401 Mass-marketing, 195-96 Materialism, 577-79 Materials, 222 Matrix methods, 39-41 Mature consumers, 133 Maturity stage, 270-71, 274 McDomination, 550 Measurable market segments, 194 Mechanical instruments, 109 Media, 403 Media engagement, 435-38 Media impact, 435-38 Media planners, 436,438, A-34 Media publics, 67 Media types, 409,435-36 Media vehicles, 436, 438 Megabrand strategies, 238 Megamalls, 380 Megaretailers, 383 Membership warehouses, 372 Merchandise conglomerates, 372, 373-74 Merchant wholesaler, 386-88 MERCOSUR, 546 Message, 403,405-07 Message strategy, 431 Microenvironment the company, 65 competitors, 66-67 customers, 66 defined, 64 marketing intermediaries, 65-66 publics, 67 suppliers, 65 J Micromarketing, 198-201 Middle class, 78 Middle-of-the-roaders, 524 Migration, 74-75 Mill supply houses, 387 Mission statements, 37 Mobile phone marketing, 491-92 Mobile tour marketing, 443 Modified rebuy, 163 Monopolistic competition, 296 Mood style, 434 Moral appeals, 406 More-for-less positioning, 209-10 More-for-more positioning, 208 More-for-the-same positioning, 208 Motivation consumer behavior and, 142-43 of salespeople, 462-64 Motivation research, 142 MRO materials, 173 C

MRO products, 385, 389-90 Multibrands, 238 Multichannel distribution systems, 343-44 Multichannel retailers, 381, 382 Multiple niching, 533 Multiple segmentation bases, 191-92 Musical style, 434 Myopia, competitor, 517 -.

g

Name, brand name selection, 232-33 Natural environment, 79-80 Natural products, 222 Nature, views of, 88-89 Need recognition, 147 Needs, 6 Need-satisfaction approach, 467 Neighborhood shopping centers, 380 Net marketing contribution (NMC), A-21 Net profit percentage, A-20 New environmental technologies, 584 New products, 150-52 New task, 163 New-product development customer-centered, 263-64 defined, 253 development process, 254-63 managing, 263-67 strategy, 253-54 systematic, 264, 266-67 team-based, 264 New-product planning, jobs in, A-36 New-product pricing strategies, 308-09 Niche marketersimarketing, 88, 197 Nichers, 48, 527, 531-34 Noise, 403 Nonpersonal communication channels, 409 Nonprice positions, 294 Nonprobability samples, 109 Nonprofit organizations, marketing research in, 114-17 Nonstore retailing, 381-82 Nontariff trade barriers, 544 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),390,54546,585 Nostalgia trend, 248 Not-for-profit marketing, 27-28 Not-for-profit services, jobs in, A-36 Nutritional labeling, 227, 582 Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (1990), 227

;-2 Objective-and-task method, 413 Objectives defined, A-6 setting, 38-39 Observational research, 104-05 Occasion segmentation, 189 Occupation, as influence on buyer behavior, 139-40 Off-invoice, 472 Off-list, 472 Off-price retailers, 367, 370 Oligopolistic competition, 296-97 One-to-one marketing, 200 Online advertising, 500-502 Online databases, 103 Online focus groups, 106-08 Online marketing defined, 493 domains, 494-96 establishing a presence, 498-504 marketing and the Internet, 493 promises and challenges of, 504-05 types of, 496-98

Subject Index Online marketing research, 106-08 Online media, 409 Online panels, 106-08 online privacy, 507-08 Online retailers, 381-82 Online security, 507 Online social networking, 135 Open dating, 227,582 Open-end questions, 109 Operating control, 55 Operating expense percentage, A-20 Operating ratios, A-20 Operating statement, A-18, A-19 Operational excellence, 524 Opinion leader, 135,408 Opportunities, 52, A-6 Optional-product pricing, 310 Order-routine specification, 172 Organization marketing, 222 Organizational climate, 463 Organizational factors, for business buyers, 168 Organizations, views of, 87 Others, views of, 87 Outbound distribution, 352 Outbound telephone marketing, 487 Outside sales force, 457 Outside-in perspective, 10 Outsourced logistics. See Third-party logistics (3PL) provider Overall cost leadership, 523 Overhead, 288 Packaging, 226 Partner relationship management, 18-19, 45,350 Partnering, 45-47 Partners, 18-19 Parts, 222 Patriotism, 87-88 Patronage rewards, 472 People differentiation, 206 People meters, 109 Perceived performance, of product, 149 Percentage-of-sales method, 412 Perception, 143-44 Perceptual positioning maps, 203 Performance quality, 224 Performance review, 172 Permission-based e-mail, 505 Permission-based marketing, 504 Person marketing, 222 Personal communication channels, 407-09 Personal factors, affecting consumer behavior, 139-41 Personal interviewing, 106 The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act, 574 Personal selling compensating salespeople, 461-62 defined, 414,452 designing sales force strategy and structure, 454-59 nature of, 452-53 process, 466-68 as promotion tool, 399 recruiting and selecting salespeople, 459-60 sales force role, 453 social responsibility and, 419 supervising and motivating salespeople, 462-65 training salespeople, 460-61 Personal sources, 148 Personality, 141

Personality symbol style, 434 Personalization, 73 Persuasive advertising, 427 Philosophy, of a company, 44 Phishing, 507 Physical distribution. See also Marketing logistics jobs in, A-36 Physical distribution firms, 66 Piggyback, 356 Pipelines, 355 Place, 50 Place marketing, 223 Planned obsolescence, 574, 576-77 Planning, 52-5 3 Pleasing products, 590 Podcasts, 492 Point-of-purchase (POP) promotions, 472 Political environment, 82-86 Political-legal environment, global marketing and, 548 Pollution cultural, 5 79-80 as environmental trend, 79 prevention of, 583 Poor service, 577 Population, geographic shifts in, 74-75 Pop-unders, 501 POP-UPS,500-501 Portals, 497 Portfolio analysis, 39 Positioning choosing strategy for, 203-04, 206-10 communication and delivery of, 210 customer-driven marketing and, 48, 50 defined, 185, A-7 maps, 203,204 retailers and, 374-75 wholesalers and, 388 Positioning statement, 210 Postpurchase behavior, 149 Postpurchase dissonance, 146 Power centers, 380 Preapproach, 466 Predatory competition, 581 Predatory pricing, 324 Premiums, 471 Presentation, 467 Preservers, 139 Price comparison sites, 497 Price confusion, 327 Price discrimination, 324 Price elasticity, 298 Price escalation, 320, 561 Price packs, 471 Price points, 310 Price transparency, 561 Price-adjustment strategies, 312 Price-fixing, 324 Price-off, 472 Pricelpricing. See also specific types break-eventtarget profit, 291-92 by-product, 311 captive-product, 310-11 changes in, 320-23 competitors' strategies and, 299 cost-based, 290-91 defining, 284-85 demand and, 297-99 in different markets, 294, 296-97 discount and allowance, 312 dynamic, 318-1 9 geographical, 317-18 global marketing and, 561-62

good-value, 287 international, 320 market-penetration, 309 market-skimming, 308 new-product strategies, 308-09 optional-product, 310 as part of Four P's, 50 product bundle, 312 product line, 309-10 product mix strategies, 309-12 promotional, 316-17 psychological, 314, 316 public policy and, 323-27 retailer classification and, 369-72 retailers and, 377 segmented, 312-14 value-added, 287,288-89 value-based, 285-87 wholesalers and, 389 Pricing power, 287,288-89 Pricing-matching guarantees, 316 Primary data, 102,103-10 Primary motivations, 141 Print media, 409 Privacy direct marketing and, 507-08 intrusions on, 118-20 Private brand, 233-34 Private goods, 579 Pro forma profit-and-loss statement, A-18 Probability samples, 109 Problem recognition, 169 Producers' cooperatives, 387 Product (s) classifications, 220-23 defined, 218 global marketing and, 556, 558 harvesting, 273 individual decisions, 223-28 international marketing of, 275-76 levels of, 219-20 line decisions, 228-29 as market offering, 6-7 mix decisions, 229-30 as part of Four P's, 50 services, experiences, and, 218-19 Product adaptation, 558 Product assortment, retailer's, 376 Product attributes, 223-25, 231-32 Product bundle pricing, 312 Product characteristics, adoption rate and, 152 Product class, 268 Product concept, 9-10, 257-58 Product decision, social responsibility and, 274-75 Product development, 44, 259-60 Product features, 224 Product form, 268 Product invention, 558 Product leadership, 524 Product life cycle (PLC),428 decline stage, 271-73, 274 defined, 267 growth stage, 270, 274 introduction stage, 269-70, 274 maturity stage, 270-71, 274 strategies, 267-73 Product life-cycle stage, 201 Product line pricing, 309-10 Product lines decisions regarding, 228-29 retailers and, 368-69 Product management, jobs in, A-34-A-35 Product management organization, 55 Product mix, 229,309-12

1-18

Subject Index

Product modification, 271 Product portfolio, 229-30 Product position, 203. See also Positioning Product review, A-3-A-4 Product sales force structure, 454 Product specification, 169-70 Product stewards, 275 Product stewardship, 584 Product style and design, 224-25 Product support services, 227-28 Product variability, 201 Product-form pricing, 313 Production concept, 9 Production managers, A-34 Producttmarket expansion grid, 42-43 Product-oriented mission statements, 38 Professional associations, A-37 Profit-and-loss statement, A-19 Profits, as advertising effect, 439 Promotion(s) advertising and sales, 418 costs of, 571 global marketing and, 559 online, 500-502 as part of Four P's, 51 setting budget for, 412-13 wholesalers and, 389 Promotion clutter, 469 Promotion mix defined, 398 integrating, 417-18 overview, 398-99 shaping, 413-15 strategies, 415-16 Promotion tools, retailers and, 377 Promotional allowances, 312 Promotional pricing, 316-1 7 Promotional products, 471-72 Proposal solicitation, 171 Prospecting, 466 Provider-customer interaction, 240 Psychographic segmentation, 186,188-89 Psychological factors, affecting consumer behavior, 1 4 2 4 5 Psychological pricing, 314, 316 Public goods, 579 Public iolicy channel distribution and, 351-52 direct marketing and, 506-09 government regulation and, 82 in marketing research, 118-22 pricing and, 323-27 Public relations defined, 415,441 department functions ,441 jobs in, A-36 as promotion tool, 398 role and impact of, 44142 tools, 442-43 Public service activities, 443 Public sources, 148 Publics, 67 Puffery, 573 Pull strategy, 415-1 7 Pulsing, 438 Purchase decision, 148-49 Purchasing agents, 388 Purchasing officers, 388 Pure competition, 294,296 Pure monopoly, 297 Pure services, 219 Pure tangible goods, 219 Push money, 472 Push strategy, 415-17

~ u a l i f ~ i466 n~, Qualitative value, of message, 435-38 duality * levels of, 224 price and, 316 service, 244 Quality-price, 533 Quantity discounts, 312 Questionnaires, 109 Quick Response (QR) codes, 492 Quotas, 544 D

-

n '"

R&D department, 259 Rack jobbers, 387 Radio-frequency identification (WID) transmitters, 80-81, 354-55 Railroads, 355 Rational appeals, 405 Raw material exporting economies, 54647 Raw materials, 79, 222 Reach, of message, 435-38 Rebates, 471 Receiver, 403 Redlining, 577 Reference prices, 316 Regional free trade zones, 54546 Regional shopping centers/mdls, 380 Regulation, citizen and public actions for, 581-86 Relationships, 7 Relative advantage, 152 Relative market share, 40 Relevant costs, A-12 Reminder advertising, 427-28 Research, marketing plan and, A-1 Resellers, 65, 299 Resources, 141 Response, 403 Retail convergence, 382-83 Retail technology, 383 Retailer cooperatives, 372, 373 Retailers, 367 Retailing defined, 367 future of, 381-84 jobs in, A-35-A-36 marketing decisions, 374-80 nonstore, 381-82 types of retailers, 367-74 Retailhesale price maintenance, 326 Retailtainment, 491 => Return of advertising investment, 438-39 Return on investment (ROI),A-12, A-21 Return on marketing investment (marketing ROI), 56-57 Return on quality approach, 224 Return on sales investment, 465 Revenue management, 313 Reverse distribution, 352 WID, 80-81,354-55 Rich media ads, 501 Robinson-Patman Act, 323,324,418 Roles, 139

a"eSale signs, 315 Sales assistants, 457 Sales branches, 388 Sales contest, 473 Sales force automation systems, 463 Sales force management, 454-62 Sales force promotions, 469

Sales, jobs in, A-35 Sales management, jobs in, A-35 Sales offices, 388 Sales promotion as advertising effect, 439 defined, 414-15,468 growth of, 469 objectives, 469-70 program development, 473 as promotion tool, 398 social responsibility and, 418 tools, 470-73 Sales reports, 465 Salespeople compensating, 461-62 defined, 453 designing strategy and structure for, 454-59 recruiting and selecting, 459-60 role of, 4u53 supervising and motivating, 462-65 training, 460-61 Salutory products, 590 Same-for-less positioning, 209 Sample defined, 108 as promotion tool, 470 Sampling plan, 108-09 Satisfaction, 7 Scanner fraud, 326-27 Scientific evidence style, 434 Search engines, 497 Search-related ads, 501 Seasonal discounts, 312 Secondary beliefs, 86-89 Secondary data, 102-03 Segmented marketing, 196-97 Segmented pricing, 312-14 Selective attention, 143 Selective distortion, 143 Selective distribution, 349 Selective relationship management, 16 Selective retention, 143 Self, view of, 86-87 Self-concept, 141 Self-marketing, 201 Sellers direct marketing and, 482-83 rights of, 581 Seller's headquarters organization, 562 Selling agents, 388 Selling concept, 10 Selling process, 466 Sender, 403 "Sense and respond" philosophy, 10 Sense-of-mission marketing, 587-90 Sequential product development, 264 Service attributes, 223-25 Service inseparability, 240 Service intangibility, 239 Service nichers, 533 Service perishability, 240 Service products, 51 Service variability, 240 Service-firm-sponsored retailer franchise system, 34243 Service-profit chain, 240-43 Services defined, 218 differentiation management, 243-44 individual decisions, 223-28 international marketing of, 275-76 levels of, 219-20 as market offering, 6-7 marketing strategies for, 24043 nature and characteristics of, 23945

Subject Index productivity management, 24445 products, experiences, and, 218-19 quality management, 244 retailers and, 367-68, 376-77 Services differentiation, 206 Services mix, 376 Seven C's, of Web site design, 500 Share of customer, 20-21 Shared projects, 357 Sherman Act, 323 Shoddy products, 573-74 Shopping bots, 319 Shopping centers, 380 Shopping products, 220,221 Shortrun average cost (SRAC) curve, 289 Short-run wants, 11 Signpost pricing, 315-16 Single-line store, 367 Six-pocket syndrome, 68 Slice of life style, 432-33 Slotting fees, 234 Small businesses, marketing research in, 114-1 7 Small office/home office (SOHO) market, 74 Smart chips, 80-81, 354-55 Social classes, 134 Social criticisms, of marketing, 571-81 Social factors, affecting consumer behavior, 134-39 Social goods, 579 Social marketing campaigns, 28 Social networking, 135,443 Social responsibility customer relationships and, 26-27 marketing communication and, 418-19 marketing for, 586-93 product decisions and, 274-75 target marketing and, 202-03 Socially responsible actions, 84-86 Socially responsible businesses, 155 Societal marketing, 590-91 Societal marketing concept, 11-12 Society, views of, 87-88 SOHO market, 74 Sources, informational, 148 South American Community of Nations (CSN), 546 Spam, 503-04 Special events, 442 Special-event pricing, 316 Specialization, 533 Specialty products, 220, 221 Specialty stores, 367, 368 Specialty wholesalers, 387 Speeches, 442 Spending patterns, 78 Standardized marketing mix, 555-56 Status, 139 Stimulus object, 144 Stockturn rate, A-20 Store brand, 233 Straight product extension, 558 Straight rebuy, 163 "Strangers," 22 Strategic alliances, 19 Strategic business unit (SBU),39 Strategic control, 55 Strategic group, 518-19 Strategic partners, 459 Strategic planning business portfolios, 3 9 4 4 defined, 36 mission statements, 37-38 setting objectives and goals, 38-39 Strengths, 52, A-6

Strivers, 141 Style, 224-25, 268 Subculture, 131-33 Subliminal advertising, 1 4 3 4 4 Subsistence economies, 77-78, 546 Substantial market segmentation, 194 Supercenters, 367, 369 Supermarkets, 367,368 Superspecialty store, 367 Superstores, 367, 369 Supervision, of salespeople, 462-64 Supplier development, 162 Supplier search, 170 Supplier selection, 171-72 Suppliers, 65, 256 Supplies, 222 Supply chain, 19 Supply chain management defined, 352 marketing logistics and, 352-58 partner relationships and, 19 Supply chains, value delivery network, 334-35 Support services, product, 227-28 Survey research, 105 Survivors, 141 Sustainability vision, 585 Sweepstakes, 472 SWOT analysis, 52 Systematic new-product development, 264,266-67 Systems selling, 163-66 8--

3

Target audience, 404 Target costing, 293 Target marketing customer-driven marketing and, 8, 48 evaluating market segments, 195 retailers and, 374-75 selecting, 195-201 socially responsible businesses, 202-03 strategies, 195 wholesalers and, 388 Target profit pricing, 291-92 Target-return pricing, A-12 Tariffs, 544 Team selling, 458-59 Team-based new-product development, 264 Technical environment, 80-82 Technical expertise style, 434 Technical sales support, 457 Telecommuters, 74 Telemarketers, 45 7-58 Telephone interviews, 106 Telephone marketing, 487-88 Territorial sales force structure, 454 Test marketing, 260-62 Testimonial evidencelendorsement style, 434 Third-party logistics, 357-58 Third-party logistics (3PL) provider, 357-58 Threats, 52, A-6 Three-day cooling-off rule, 419 Tiered market, 78 Time pricing, 313 Time-and-duty analysis, 462-64 Timing, of new product launch, 262-63 Tone, of an ad, 434 Total costs, 288-89,291-92, A-12 Total demand, expanding, 528-29 Total market demand, A-16 Total promotion budget, 412-13 Total quality management (TQM),224

Touch points, 112 Trade discounts, 312 Trade promotions, 469 Trade promotion tools, 472 Trade shows, 472 Trade-in allowances, 312 Trainship, 356 Transaction sites, 497 Transnational brands, 543 Transportation, 355-56 Tmck jobbers, 387 Truck wholesalers, 387 "True friends," 22 Truth in advertising, 582 Truth in lending, 582 Tweens, 157 Two-part pricing, 311 Tying agreements, 352 n I!

a j:

Underclass, 78 Undifferentiated brands, 428 Undifferentiated marketing, 195-96 Unexpected situational factors, 149 Uniform-delivered pricing, 318 Unique selling proposition (USP),207 Unit contribution, A-14 Unit pricing, 227, 582 Universe, views of, 89 Unsafe products, 573-74 Unsought products, 220,221 Uruguay Round, 54445 Usage rate, 190 User status, 190 Users, 166 "7

Value analysis, 169-70 Value chain, 45 Value, channel partners and, 336-38 Value delivery network, 334-35 Value discipline, 524 Value marketing, 78 Value proposition, 9, 208 Value-added pricing, 287 Value-based pricing, 285-87, A-13 Value-delivery network, 45, 46 Value-retail centers, 371 Values and Lifestyles (VALS)typology, 140-41 Values, beliefs and, 232 Variable costs, 288, 291-92, A-12 Variable usage rate, 311 Variety-seeking buying behavior, 147 Vendor-managedinventory (VMI), 172,356 Vertical conflict, 339 Vertical marketing systems (VMS),340-43 Video mining, 120-21 Views, 86-89 Viral marketing, 502 Vodcasts, 492 Voice mail, 485 Voluntary chains, 372-73 . *

h

.'

.;$2 .I

;i

Wants, 6, 577-79 Warehouse clubs, 367,372 Warehousing, 354 Water carriers, 355 Weaknesses, 52, A-6 Web communities, 502-03 Web sellers, 457-58 Web sites, creating, 499-500 Web-based sales forces, 464-65 Webpreneurs, 197 Wheeler-Lea Act, 572

1-20

Subject Index

Wheel-of-retailing concept, 381 Whole-channel view, 562 Wholesale clubs, 367, 372 Wholesaler, 385 Wholesaling defined, 385 marketing decisions, 388-89 trends in, 389-90 types of wholesalers, 386-88

width, of product mix, 229 Word-of-mouth influence, 408 Working class, 78 Workload approach, 456 Workload method, A-23 World product groups, 563 Written materials, 442-43 Written proposal for research plan, 101

'i

Yield management, 3 13 a

L

Zone pricing, 318