Recap of First session dated 18th January 2012

·         What is market research?

·         What is consumer behavior?

·         How are they inter-related?

·         What is their impact on marketing decisions?/ How do they facilitate decision making or managerial decision making?

Decision is required because of difference between prevailing and desired situation.

Steps of decision making:

1.      Need for objective/mission

2.    Determine alternatives which can solve problem

3.     Compare and contrast various alternatives

4.     Select best alternative

5.     Put alternate solution to action

Success/ failure depends on:

·        Capability of decision maker in terms of

Ø  Making decions

Ø  Implementing decisions

·        Quality of information

Marketing research is a systematic approach to gather information and analyze it in order to make decisions.

·         Consumer behavior:  Qualitative

·         Marketing research: Quantitative

Marketing models are failing today because of problem in qualitative understanding.

Difference between market research and marketing research:

Market research is about understanding and defining market, components of market and target market: It's goal is to have a clear understanding of the market. 

Marketing research defines decisions of market, advertising, etc. It aims to understand which marketing strategy will be best.

Consumer research is a part of market research.

Market research: Deals with principles of marketing

Consumer research:  Deals with principles of Consumer behavior

Success is defined by 2 major categories:

·         Growth

·         Sustainence

Other categories are:

·         Profit

·         Brand image

·         Goodwill

·         Market penetration

·         Market share

·         Market position

There is a relationship between growth and sustainence- If you grow, u need to sustain and If you are able to sustain, then only you can grow.

2 actions are required for growth and sustainence:

·               Attain customers

·            Retain customers

Earlier, Demand > Supply : seller was the market king. It led to 2 disasters-

Ø  Deficient economy

Ø  Foreign exchange crisis

In 1991, New Economic Policy was formed which led to:

Ø  Liberalization

Ø  Privatization

Ø  Globalization

This led to Demand < Supply  : Biased Market

General Management Principles:

·         Vision

·         Mission

·         Objectives

·         Strategies

·         Plans

·         Goals

Principles of Marketing:

·         Customer perceived value

·         STP

·         Branding

·         Marketing mix – 4P or 7P

Customer Perceived Value:

                It is the ratio between Customer perceived benefits (CPB) and Customer perceived costs(CPC).

                Its significance is in attracting and retaining customers. For this, CPV>1 ie CPB> CPC

                Customer perceived benefits includes –

Ø  Functional benefits

Ø  Subjective benefits

                       CPB= FB + SB

                Customer perceived costs includes

Ø  Financial costs

Ø  Non-financial costs

CPC= FC + NFC

                Principle of CPV: Increasing CPV will lead to attracting more customers.

STP:

2 approaches to look at market:

Mass marketing  ----------------------------||------------||----------------------  1 to 1 customization

                                                                           STP

Price is less                                                                                                       Prices very high                                          

Risk to lose customers is high                                                                            Risk is less

Assumes all customers are alike                                                                        All customers are unique

Thus, there is a need of balance. So, group similar customers together. Thus, STP is a compromise, a mid way path between above two extremes.

Segmentation                                                      Targetting                                            Positioning

Divide the market                                               Evaluate                                                          USP

Profile them                                                        Choose                                                      Communicate

There should be distinct difference between customers of different segments.

Evaluation

There should be proper evaluation of:

Ø  Market

Ø  Competition

Ø  Customer need

Ø  Our capabilities

Choose

Choose 1, more or all the segments. Even if all the segments are chosen, its not mass marketing.

USP:

Ø  Difference should be there

Ø  That difference should be important for customers

Ø  Customers should be ready to pay for that difference