Essay on PRACTICE OF MARKETING

Essay on PRACTICE OF MARKETING Essay on PRACTICE OF MARKETING Essay on PRACTICE OF MARKETINGBasing on Hooley, Saunders, and Piercy (1998) and Kotler and Armstrong (2013), positioning is the process of searching a market position for a company, product or service that will distinguish it from the position of competitors. Positioning is based on the analysis of a specific target group of consumers for which the benefits and uniqueness are created (Riezebos and van der Grinten, 2012; Myers, 1996). Without a clear idea of what positioning is focused on, it becomes almost impossible to reconcile the solutions of the marketing mix. Generally, the identification of competitive positioning often dictates the most effective combinations of other marketing tools.In its essence, the positioning of a product or service to a consumer is a method of determining a product (service) through the features that seem to be the most important ones for this consumer (Riezebos and van der Grinten, 2012; Czerniawski and Maloney, 2011). As a rule, the work on developin g and maintaining market positioning is built in the following way (basing on McDonald, 2012; Hooley, Saunders, and Piercy, 1998; Myers, 1996; Kotler and Armstrong, 2013):Stage 1 Market segmentation aimed at the selection of market segments and niches the product or service will occupy.Stage 2 The study of the needs of consumers in the selected market segments, including the study of existing market offers and identification of potential competitive advantages.Stage 3 – The development of positioning strategy based on the selected competitive advantages.Stage 4 – The support of positioning strategy through naming, shaping, advertising, and packaging of company’s products.One of the most elegant examples of the positioning strategy success is case of Venus brand, presented by Gillette, the market leader of the razor industry. Thus, on Stage 1, Gillette Company, now being the subdivision of ProcterGamble Corporation (PG Official Website, 2014), infallibly correc tly chooses to enter a previously unoccupied market niche of female safe razors. Above all, trading with shaving accessories is one of the most profitable businesses on FMCG market since 85% of people prefer traditional wet shave using a razor systems or disposable razor blades (N.D., 2005). The sales of razors and blade refills are stable throughout the year, and even financial crisis marginally reduces their volume (McKibben, 1997; N.D., 2005; Pisarcik, 2014). Second of all, Gillette took an extremely timely decision and caught a perfect moment for releasing the first-ever women’s razor product in the 1970’s, when female clothing was becoming increasingly revealing and women began to use common safety razors (Adams, 1978; Gillette Venus Official Website, 2014). Thus, the establishment of a new sub-brand Gillette Venus was a classic example of a market extension strategy when a stable company that achieved high rates in its key position on the market (in our case, exp ensive, high-quality disposable razors for men) decides to reach new audiences offering them same benefits, thus exploiting the factor of audience’s previous awareness about the major brand (Hem, De Chernatony, and Iversen, 2003).Having accurately limited their target audience to women under 45 (Pisarcik, 2014; McKibben, 1997), the company found that their basic needs included the requirement to possess a razor which would clearly be different from brutal male blades by design and form, as well as could be used multiple times. Today, the main competitive advantages of Gillette Venus razors are their design imitating the anatomical contours of female body and high-quality technologies in the production of steel and special blade coating that make razors sharper and more durable (Gillette Venus Official Website, 2014). As a result, being in fierce competition with cheaper brands, BIC, Wilkinson, Astor, Dorco, Lord, Gillette Venus is still standing strongly on offering premium c lass products as premium price. At the same time, the company turns to be flexible enough to answer newly occurring challenges in the contemporary crisis market conditions. Thus, after the appearance of disposal razors manufactured by BIC claiming up to 25% of market (BIC Official Website, 2014), Gillette quickly launches its own models of disposable tools like Simply Venus (Gillette Venus Official Website, 2014). Indeed, existing market share is never enough; strategic position is the only factor that matters, as Jackson (2007) fairly notes.And still, the positioning strategy of Gillette Venus brand is mainly based on the uniqueness of the product. Perfectly fitting female body shapes due to a pivoting head, accounting female skin sensitivity, and designed in pastel colors, Venus razors shout out load that they are made for women exclusively (Gillette Venus Official Website, 2014). Moreover, they immediately endue their users with such qualities as active life position, genuine fem ininity, divine beauty and elegance, showing that women preferring Gillette are women who love themselves and believe they deserve best products. This positioning is supported by the smooth shapes of razor machines, pinkish tones in packaging and clients addressing, the image of graceful women in brand’s commercials, and the very name of a brand hinting that its consumers are God-like creatures. As a result, Gillette is the undisputed leader in the segment of shaving systems, and in some countries, owns up to 87% of the market (N.D., 2005; Pisarcik, 2014).However, the high level of competition in the razor industry, the continuous development of new brands and types of products, as well as the persisting economic crisis in most markets should eventually push Gillette to certain strategic transformations (Finch and Geiger, 2010; Trout and Rivkin, 2009). In particular, the increasing role of price reasonability factor, especially in the developing markets Gillette in actively e ntering now, should help the company realize the need of introducing a line of cheaper products targeted at the younger generation of ladies aged 14-21. Vibrant and colorful design as well as bold advertising messages aimed at involving the audience into social media dialogue, like Dollar Shave Club did (Glazer, 2012), could work effectively for supporting brand’s popularity among new consumers (Gilbreath, 2009; ). To retain existing loyal clients, the company needs to put an end to deriving interchangeable cartridges of older modifications soon after issuing new products: basing on Anandan, Satish, and Sri (2006), as well as Czerniawski and Maloney (2011) studies, while this practice seems to produce additional profits for the company, it turns to be rather costly for consumers, which leads to the decrease in the credit of trust.In general, the consumers of the future will be more educated and will have a wider choice due to increased competition. Therefore, companies will n o longer be able to impact target audiences by means of positioning based on image and previous achievements. In turn, consumers are expected to demand increasingly higher levels of service and quality at a constant price reduction. At the same time, drastic changes in production technologies and total quality management make companies concentrate rather on the physical aspects of their market proposal, which, as Giannias (1999) rightfully marks, obviously complicates market differentiation. In this regard, we must agree with Graver (2004) and Trout and Rivkin (2009) that product differentiation, and hence positioning, will supposedly depend largely on value-added services that can be included into the supply.