The document discusses the marketing mix and how it has evolved to include 7 Ps for service businesses. It defines each of the 7 Ps - product, price, place, promotion, people, processes, and physical evidence. It then provides questions and answers about internet marketing topics like customization, targeting customers, and challenges of going online like cultural issues, payment security, technological changes, and information fatigue.

1. UNIT 12 Investigating Internet Marketing Unit Test

2. The Marketing Mix Classic marketing uses a ‘mix’ of tactics based on a combination of the 4 Ps. Product Price Place Promotion The four Ps are the basic set of marketing tactics that can be manipulated in order to attract customers.

3. The Marketing Mix In the modern economy many organisations do not sell products, but services. In fact, the UK is now a ‘service economy’ and they have added a further 3 Ps to create an extended marketing mix. People Processes Physical evidence The marketing mix extends to seven Ps when discussing the marketing of services.

4. The seven Ps PRODUCT - The marketing function considers the features of a product offered to a market, called a segment. These features rely on consideration of what customers require from products. For example, shampoos with conditioners, cars with heated seats. PRICE – the market function considers the price a product should be pitched at. Different pricing strategies are available according to what the business is aiming to achieve. For example, ‘destruction pricing’ to drive others out of the market.

5. The 7 Ps PLACE – Marketing specialist have considered how a product will find its way to a place where consumers can make a purchase. There is a complex system that gets goods from the manufacturer to the high street retailer. PROMOTION – Marketing professionals consider ways of bringing products to a the attention of potential customers. This includes advertising, special offers to push products towards potential consumers.

6. The 7 Ps PEOPLE - People are at the centre of service delivery. When we use shops, restaurants, cafes, banks or colleges our satisfaction hinges on how the people deal with us. PROCESSES – When we use a service, we take part in various activities or processes. For example, if we use Nandos, is it a self-service counter or may we interact with a waiter.

7. The 7 Ps PHYSICAL EVIDENCE - This is about the environment in which the service is delivered. For example, we check how restaurants look or how retail stores are laid out. Customers look for tangible evidence to judge whether a service is what they want. The ‘ Marketing Mix ’ is a combination of blended tactics used in delivering a marketing strategy.

8. Q1. What do you understand is the main purpose of marketing? The purpose of marketing is to encourage recipients of the communication to purchase or use the product or service. Markets exist where goods and services are bought and sold. Wherever people and organisations want or need goods or services there is a market. If businesses are to compete successfully, they have to meet the needs of the people who might buy from or use them.

9. Q2. List at least four ways in which the internet helps a business to find out about its customers. Four ways in which a business might find out about its customers and build a profile is to: Build up a database of information about the customer’s purchasing habits. Provide a survey to get as much feedback as possible about products and services they use. Allow them to preview and trial new products and providing an onsite review of the products. Analyse sales records to see what products a customer usually buys.

10. Q3. Describe what is meant by ‘targeting’ customers. A target market is a group of consumers, or segment, to which an organisation offers its products. A product like ‘Kit-Kat’ could be aimed at everyone who enjoys chocolates – is therefore mass marketing. A magazine like ‘Vibe’ would be aimed at a hip hop/bashment teenage audience – is therefore known as targeting.

11. Q4. Describe what is meant by ‘segmenting’ a market. Market segment is a subgroup within an overall market that has similar characteristics. Segmenting in the car market will reflect that we all have different tastes and reasons for buying a car. I might buy a car because it is reliable and gets me to and from work; someone else might buy a car because they want people to know that they are successful. Marketing makes sense of the different groupings within markets and this is known as segmentation. By segmenting markets businesses will see particular characteristics within them and target products and market tactics to suit that segment.

12. Q5. Describe and give three examples of ‘personalisation’ of web pages. A personalised web page is one that is designed to appeal to a particular person and stimulates interest. In business to customer markets, the web pages visited is an individual choice, so online business can personalise their response to suit an individual. Three examples of these are: Amazon EBAY GumTree

13. Q6. What do you understand by ‘mass customisation’? Mass Customisation is the opportunity for the customer to manipulate and change the online presentation of a product. Customers can tailor products to suit their individual tastes and their own preferences. For example, Dell computers allows customers to select the various components to build their own PC configuration. This service is available from some businesses to all of their online customers, this is known as ‘mass customisation’.

14. Q7. How might the internet offer customers improved value? Businesses offering a high level of customer service will add value to their products by: Sourcing products from around the world at your fingertips, for example, designer labels direct from the country of manufacture Provide a range of product prices to suit every income group, with instant access to price comparison sites ( www.kelkoo.com ) Disintermediation, which removes the middle men and allows products to get to the consumer .

15. Q8. What is ‘dynamic pricing’? Dynamic pricing is the facility of the web that allows businesses to adjust prices quickly, according to market conditions. The airline and hotel industries demonstrate this ‘fluid pricing’. When few seats are sold, availability is good and prices are set very low. As flight time draws near, fewer seats are available and prices increase depending on seat availability. The website and supporting technology respond instantly to market changes.

16. Q9. List and describe three ways in which businesses can use internet marketing opportunities. Promotions – a website is a promotional tool. New product launches are possible online and it is an ideal place to attract interest in new products. Podcasts – A tool used to delivery marketing information to customers. A Podcast is a small multimedia file that can be downloaded using the internet. Used by newspapers and the BBC. 24-hour online services – an advantage for service businesses, where the service is available anytime and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Examples of these are banks, insurance companies, distance learning institutes, retail outlets.

17. Q10. Describe three challenges that a business going online might have to face. Why are they challenges? Cultural issues – web designers will have to consider cultural differences at length. Differences in perception are significant. Oriental scripts and read vertically, whilst Arabic is read right to left and English is read left to right. The challenge comes in reflecting the differences in marketing communications. If you get the message wrong then long term online damage can be caused. It is important to know your market. Payment Security – Consumers are concerned about security of transactions via the internet. The threats are hackers, identity theft, etc., all of which leave you vulnerable. Customers will be reluctant to leave the debit/credit card details online, which deprives them of access to products and services that can’t be found elsewhere.

18. Q10. Describe three challenges that a business going online might have to face. Why are they challenges? Cont… Technological change – businesses are under pressure to be innovative in all markets. They must respond to new ways of working, both of their partners firms as well as their competitors. In a knowledge-based economy speed wins and this adds pressure to the management. Information Fatigue – This is where you have so much data that it becomes meaningless and is impossible to use. Businesses must be aware that ‘information’ is not ‘knowledge’ data has to be interpreted and made sense of.