Marketing as a concept
The buying process could be highly complex if the different key steps involved in the purchase process are not properly followed. It could be said that most of the consumers move through certain stages before purchasing a particular product. The consumers discuss several key aspects and gather ample information before making their purchase decisions and that’s what makes it extremely interesting to see how and in what ways the consumers makes their decisions to purchase a certain item. Organisations have to make sure they are able to communicate effectively with their consumers which would help them to get substantial amount of market share and also provide the best possible customer satisfaction. In this scenario marketing communication is extremely important as most of the consumers are highly driven by marketing and this also improves the overall communication between the organisation and the consumers (Armstrong, 2009). Aaron McKenzie is a Scottish Resident mainly playing his cricket in Cardiff. Aaron is very picky about his bat as he plays in the team second division Cardiff team as a batting all rounder. He is a good batsman and likes to play long innings and hence he is particular about the kind of bat he buys. This report will highlight the purchase decision making process he follows.
Business transactions happen every moment in this highly competitive business environment and hence it is essential for business organisations to effectively develop a strong marketing strategy which would help to get proper market share and consumer interest increases in the market. There are number of definitions of marketing but the classical definition of marketing defines it as a process through which a company promotes its products and services in a given market. Marketing concept has been necessary for every organisation as it helps to understand the needs and wants of the consumers in the market and accordingly addresses them effectively. It could be said that most marketing is an extremely important aspect for an organisation as it lays the platform to create effective market awareness. The marketing concepts have been looked at in different manner by different researchers which mainly show the importance of this concept of marketing in the contemporary business environment (Biswas, 2014).
According to Fanning the process of meeting the needs and demands of the consumers is just the way of meeting the organisational needs as well. This is a very significant aspect in business as every business works with the profit motive and selling the right kind of products and services to the consumers mean that the organisation is able to meet the consumer requirements and hence meeting their own organisational objectives. In this scenario every organisation is focused on understanding consumers and realising their needs which helps to provide just what the consumers require. It is extremely important to note that every consumer has different needs and wants and in this situation addressing the personal needs of the consumers becomes tough and hence this is where the marketing concepts come into the picture. There are three mega concepts of marketing which mainly includes the buyer decision process, total product concept and circle of satisfaction (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010).
Discussion
The buyer decision process is a complex process as it is still a conundrum about how a consumer goes about making purchase decisions. The consumer purchase decision process is mainly about how the customers communicate with the organisations and the society through products and services and this process is divided into three different time zones which are purchase behavior, product delivery and post purchase behavior. In the present case Aaron is looking for a Bat which he would be using in the coming match against the Second Division side of Lancashire County Cricket Team.
In the first time zone people normally realise their needs and wants and do extensive research to get suitable information about the product. It could be said that most of the consumers take a lot of time to move ahead from this stage as they love to get information about the products and services and tally them properly before making any decision to move to the next stage. After gathering number of information about the product the consumers would look for alternatives which would help the organisation to compare them with the existing products and services to ascertain the quality and the feature of the product. Aaron is very fussy about his picks to get the best bat for himself for the match. Aaron so far played with a Kookaburra bat but is now willing to shift to a new brand which is why he has asked some of his team mates to recommend certain names which would help to get enough information (Armstrong et al., 2014). His teammates gave him certain names like MRF, Spartan, V 1200, Gray and Nicholls, SG and SS. These brands are premium brands and have significant value in the market. Aaron as a prospective buyer has focused on understanding the difference among these brands through which he found out that the main difference between them is the price factor. He understood that Gray and Nicholls is priced maximum followed by MRF and Spartan whereas SG and SS are priced almost equally. Aaron mad internet search, and also received information from the teammates, coaches and even went to showrooms to gather information which has helped Aaron to initially understand the market presence of these brands. Apart from that Aaron also compared their features practically in the showroom and also through internet research which has helped him to understand the key differences in terms of the size of the deck, the handle and weight of the bats which would help to make his choice effectively (Sherlekar, Prasad & Victor, 2010). Analysing all the key features of the products and mainly the price Aaron set his mind to buy a Gray & Nicholls brand due to its wide market presence excellent customised specifications for suiting the personal needs like Aaron wanted a shorter handle and a thicker deck of the bat and the brand was able to provide and it is also priced effectively and within his reach.
After the information analysis in the second time zone Aaron bought a Gray & Nicholls Bat. He purchased the bat through a showroom from London which delivered the bat at his Club tent in Cardiff after three days of the order. Aaron focused on practicing with the bat in the first few days just to understand how it would help him. Since a rigorous and thorough research has been involved in the pre purchase stage Aaron was not disappointed with the overall service of the bat. He knows that some of the great players have played with this bat and hence this also gives him superior feeling about his latest purchase. This largely helps to understand the quality of the product purchased in this time zone. After using the bat in the practices as well as in the match against Lancashire he is convinced that this piece of willow is not a bad buy which clearly shows that the product satisfied his need (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013).
The Buyer decision process
The third time zone is the post purchase time zone which mainly focuses on the relationship between the brand and the consumer. It could be said that the brand is an extremely important aspect for the consumers while buying and hence it is important that the organisation is able to have an effective communication with the customer after the purchase stage is crossed. The evaluation of the customer’s needs and wants satisfaction helps to understand whether there could be a long standing relationship between the brand and the consumers or not. In this case Aaron was satisfied with the kind of services he has received from the brand Gray and Nicholls which is likely to stand for a long time with genuine communication between the brand and the consumer. The showroom and the representative of Gray and Nicholls have communicated with Aaron regarding his experience with the product through the online media to receive his feedback and to improve the service quality which has helped the company to understand what is required by the consumer and how it should be provided to him (Ali & Talwar, 2013). It could be said that this process of after sale service of regularly informing the consumer about what’s new the company is offering and also after sale service of the product like bat polishing, changing of the stickers, applying special oil to the willow are extremely effective in communicating with the consumer in this case Aaron who later would make purchases for his cricket kit from the brand Gray and Nicholls. Hence it could be said that the organisation has been able to satisfy the consumer with its effective offering and price and quality and feature of the product which is likely to improve the loyalty of the customer towards the organisation and is likely to increase the purchase and influence repeat purchase as well in the coming future. Hence talking from the marketing point of view the time zones play an extremely important role for the overall development of an organisation (Bühler & Nufer, 2015).
The second mega concept of marketing is the total product concept. The total product concept was developed by the Theodore Levitt in the year 1980. It is important to mention that the three mega concept of marketing that together forms the giga concept of marketing are interconnected to each other and hence it could be said that the total product concept is largely related to the sales of the product and the buyer purchase decision making. The total product concept basically outlines four different dimensions of a product that helps an organisation and its sales and marketing team to promote its products and understand the response of the consumers effectively. The four different dimensions of the product are Core product, Expected product, augmented product and potential product (Ebert et al., 2014).
The key stages of total product concept helps the consumers to not only consume the prime service of the product but it also helps to understand the other key stages of the product which is extremely important for the organisation. The core product of a bat is the bat itself as it provides the best possible service to the batsman to score runs for the team. On the other hand the expected product of the bat is its basic function which means the bat should be able to hit the ball properly and help the batsman score runs. It is important to mention that the expected level of the product is important to make sure that the product is able to perform its basic duties. The augmented level of the product is extremely important for the consumers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). For Aaron the augmented service of the product is its style and the features of the product. Like Gray and Nicholls has bigger deck and full stylish kit which are extremely influential for Aaron to buy this product effectively, it is a bit weightier than the other products that helps to time and place the ball effectively. Finally the potential product is important for the consumer which indicates that it should be focused on providing a complete support to the consumer. It should not only serve the basic demands but it should also improve the overall experience of the consumer. Hence for Aaron total product concept has been suitable to make his purchase decisions and have also creates significant satisfaction (Naik, Gantasala & Prabhakar, 2010).
The circle of satisfaction mainly comes with the thought of client’s trust and dependability which mainly comes with effective customer service and quality products and services. When the customer is happy with respect to a transaction made this is when the customer shows increased faith on the company and this clearly helps to build up a strong brand loyalty. The circle of satisfaction is completed with continuous effective communication with the consumers which helps to keep in touch positively and also helps to understand what the consumers feel about the products and services of the company as well as the overall customer service. Client satisfaction is mainly received with the help of the providing effective and quality products and excellent customer service and more importantly customer communication. Hence it could be said that in this case Aaron has been able to communicate effectively with the brand and this has helped him to make the organisation understand the key personalized requirements which has allowed the organisation to provide the best possible service to him (Oliver, 2014). This clearly increased the bonding of Aaron with the brand Gray and Nicholls which has helped to improve the service provided to the consumer and it has also completed the circle of satisfaction with repeat purchase made by Aaron.
Conclusion:
The present analysis of the concept of marketing has helped to discuss the key aspects of marketing especially the dimensions of products and the time zones of marketing which has allowed discussing the Giga concept of marketing. From the discussion it is very clear that the time zones of marketing is extremely important and has significant relationship between with the customer satisfaction and increased brand presence in the market.
References:
Ali, H., & Talwar, V. (2013). Principles of marketing. London, UK: University of London Publications Office.
Armstrong, G. (2009). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.
Biswas, S. (2014). Relationship marketing: Concepts, theories and cases. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Bühler, A., & Nufer, G. (2015). Marketing in sports.
Ebert, R. J., Griffin, R. W., Starke, F. A., & Dracopoulos, G. (2014). Business essentials. Pearson Education Canada.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers. Principles of Marketing.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. pearson education.
Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2013). Principles of marketing 15th global edition. Pearson.
Naik, C. K., Gantasala, S. B., & Prabhakar, G. V. (2010). Service quality (SERVQUAL) and its effect on customer satisfaction in retailing. European Journal of Social Sciences, 16(2), 231-243.
Oliver, R. L. (2014). Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer. Routledge.
Sherlekar, S. A., Prasad, K. N., & Victor, S. S. (2010). Principles of marketing. Himalaya Publishing House.
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