SECTION – C

The stage has been set for a while now, and e-commerce organizations today continue to make an impact in terms of the digital shopping experience. As technology continues to grow rapidly, e-commerce players are adopting newer techniques to facilitate both sellers and buyers to sell and buy online more efficiently.

More recently, with the introduction of flash sales and daily deals from various companies, e-commerce has brought forward technnovation in the retail sector. Nothing has surpassed the power of innovative e-commerce companies, which have proved to be as successful.

What is witnessed today is a metamorphosis of e-commerce into a variation of online commerce that is adaptable and flexible. And, with the ever dropping rates of internet surfing, both for web and mobile interfaces, which is complimentary to the soaring population of internet users, the e-commerce industry is shaping both online shopping and selling trends in India.

Some trends that will increase branding and customer growth are as follows: Firstly, content marketing will gain prominence; the focus will be on original and informative content rather than generic content.

As Google and other search engines throw more weight around original and unique content and rank them higher in search results, businesses will need to revisit their content strategy. Customers are also starting to demand more detail when purchasing and along with great navigation and ease of paying will prefer brands that give them the knowledge of the product that they seek to acquire.

Secondly, social signaling will start merging: Search engines like Google will continue their push to provide the most relevant content to the consumer. This is within their interest as well as it impacts online ad rates.

For the marketer this will mean paying a very close attention to having great content that is relevant and is shared by their consumers — a brand advocacy focus that has not been really cared for till now. With most brands trying to move away from the discount-led sales model to developing consumer loyalty, content and social signaling will play an important role in attracting more customers at a lower acquisition cost.

As more and more people consume information on the go, mobile moments or mobile marketing will get bigger. Seamless integration that will allow customers to click on an ad on the mobile and complete a transaction without any issues will usher in the next level of instant gratification.

Everyone jumped on the re-marketing bandwagon and this space is going to see even a higher uptake in 2015. Visit a product on a website and it’s going to follow you everywhere. This ability of the product and the brand to keep itself right in front of the customer is very effective.

Lastly, social media marketing will diversify: For now a majority of e-commerce brands use Facebook to drive a bulk of their potential customers. ‘PayFor-Exposure’ trend is likely to see a higher adoption by other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest etc, as they start monetizing their networks. For brands, it means that they won’t be able to depend on just one/limited channel for traffic and will have to therefore diversify their networks.
Questions:   

(2×7.5=15marks)

a)  Mention the reasons for the growth of e-commerce in our country.

b) What are some of the key trends that will amplify branding and customer growth?

B.COM III SEMESTER

Lifestyle is the people‟s activities, opinions and sum total of their interests and values.

Ex.: Pizza Hut- extra cheese, extra fillings.

Product positioning is not what you do to a product ; positioning is what you do to the mind of a prospect. As put by professor Philip, “positioning is the act of designing the company‟s image and value offer so that the segment‟s customers understand and appreciate what the company stands for in relation its competitors. It is an attempt to project different or refined or revised product image in the market than one that has been prevailing.

Marketing Intermediaries help the company to promote, sell and distribute its products to final buyers. They include resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies, and financial intermediaries. These include wholesalers and retailers, who buy and resell merchandise. Selecting and partnering with resellers is not easy

Micromarketing is the practice of tailoring products and marketing programs to suit the tastes of specific individual and locations.rather than seeing a customer in every individual,micromarketers see the individual in every customer.micromarketing includes local marketing and individual marketing

buyer decision process consists of five stages: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post purchase behavior.

STP ANALYSIS OF BLACKBERRY PHONES

Segmentation

According to the mobile communication market’s features, Blackberry combined the occupation, behaviour andincome three factors as the multiple segments to describe the consumers of mobile communication market.

Targeting

Blackberry provides the solution to target market combined with the business professional, innovators and high income segments.

Positioning

The place a product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products.

Blackberry is a smart phone that ensures consumers to receive all kind of information instantly, and be able to browse the Web, make or receive phone calls, organize the day and much more.

“To busy mobile professionals who need to always be in the loop, Blackberry is a wireless connectivity solution that allows you to stay connected to people and resources while on the go more easily and reliably than the competing technologies.”

New Product development process

1.Idea generation

2.Idea screening

3.Concept development

4.Marketing stratergy

5.Business analysis

6.Product development

7.Test marketing

8.Commercialisation

1.      Determining the channel objectives: effective channel planning starts with a determination of what is to be achieved by using the channels .the objectives include effective coverage of target market, efficient and cost effective distribution ,making products available nearest to the consumption points, ensuring uninterrupted sales and prompt customer service.

2.      Identifying functions: the functions to be performed by the channel are to be identified next. Out of the various functions listed out earlier in this chapter, like providing information, promotion, contact , breaking bulk etc.,

The functions expected of the channel have to be decided.

3.      Matching channel design to product attributes: the channel system that is best suitable for a product should be selected. some industrial products need specialist distributors. even within the category of consumer goods ,different sub-categories such as convenience goods, shopping goods, and specialty goods need different channel systems.

4.      Evaluating legal aspects and distribution environment: the distribution environment in the country to territory has to be reckoned while deciding on channel design . the proposed channel should be compatible with the features of distribution environment , including the trade related environment.

5.      Assessing competitors channel design: the channel patterns of competitors should be evaluated before deciding on channel design. the strength and weakness of competitors channels have to be assessed in order to get a edge over them.

6.      Assessing company resources and matching channel design to it: channel decision is influenced by the availability of resources in the company. larger resources will opt for wider distribution channels, like reliance industries, Bombay dyeing and mafatial have opted for two way channel design, one their own and the other conventional.

7.      Final selection of the best design: after the various alternatives are evaluated, the company chooses the best among them. each alternative needs to be evaluated against economic, control, and adaptive criteria

·         The right to be protected from all kind of hazardous goods and services

·         The right to be fully informed about the performance and quality of all goods and services

·         The right to free choice of goods and services

·         The right to be heard in all decision-making processes related to consumer interests

·         The right to seek redressal, whenever consumer rights have been infringed

·         The right to complete consumer education

Relationship Marketing:

Relationship marketing is a strategy designed to foster customer loyalty, interaction and long-term engagement. This customer relationship management (CRM) approach focuses more on customer retention than customer acquisition.

Relationship marketing is designed to develop strong connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs and interests and by promoting open communication. This approach often results in increased word-of-mouth activity, repeat business and a willingness on the customer’s part to provide information to the organization

Advantages of Relationship Marketing:

·      Retaining customers for the long-term offers many benefits. The aim is for the company to obtain life time custom. Some of the benefits of relationship marketing include:

·      Loyal customers will recommend your business to others, thus expanding your business for you.

·      Loyal customers are willing to try some of your new products, because they trust you.

·      Customers will be willing to pay more for your services/products if there are adjustments in pricing because they are loyal to you and trust your services/products.

·      Loyal customers will tell you about problems with your products/services enabling to improve your products/services.(4 marks)

A. Cost based pricing methods:

1.cost plus pricing method:

2. targer return pricing:

B.Competition based methods:

1.going rate pricing:

2.sealed bid pricing:

C. Demand based pricing method

1)      Demand modified brake even analysis:

2)      Perceived value pricing:

Pricing policies and strategies

1. Price variation policies
2. Geographic price policy
3. Price differential policies
4. Leader price policy
5. Psychological pricing
6. New product pricing policy
7. Resale price maintenance

the different stages of the product life cycle .The example of watching recorded television and the various stages of each method:

1.      Introduction – 3D TVs

2.      Growth  – Blue ray discs/DVR

3.      Maturity  – DVD

4.      Decline  – Video cassette

The actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management‟s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers.

There are two types of Marketing Environment

1)      Micro Environment

2)      Marco Environment

Microenvironment – The actors close to the company that affects its ability to serve its customers – the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors and publics.

Macro Environment – The larger societal forces that affect the microenvironment demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural forces.

Surrogate advertisement • Puffery • Exaggeration • Unverified claims • Women stereotyping • Women used as sex symbols for promoting products • Comparative advertisements • Use of children in advertising WAYS OF UNETHICAL ADVERTISEMENT

The specific blend of advertising , sales promotion,public relation,personal selling and direct marketing tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customers value and build customer relationships.

The five mojor promotion tools are

·      Advertising :- Any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas ,good or services by an identified sponsor.

·      Sales promotion :-short term incentives to encourage the purchase or sales of a product or services.

·      Public relations :- building goods relations with th company‟s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity , building up a good corporate image and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors , stories and events.

·      Personal selling:- personal presentation by the firm‟s sales force for the purpose of making sales and building customers relationship.

·      Direct marketing:- direct connection with carefully targeted individual consumers to both obtain an immediate response and cultivates lasting customers relationships – the use of direct mail,telephone,direct-response tv,e-mail,internet and other tools to communicate directly with specific consumers.

( Marks could be given on the discretion of the concerned teacher based on the quality and relevance of the answer)