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Essay Topic: Define the four marketing utilities and explain their role in business.
For many years, people have exchanged money for goods or services. We call that exchange marketing. Marketing is defined as the “process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.” (American Marketing Association qtd. in Thieme, 2000) Today marketing is taking place everywhere. If the companies want to make a profit, they have to consider how they can fill the customer’s need. In order to compete with other companies, some companies might want to make various strategies. However, it is necessary for them to consider four basic utilities. The four utilities are: form, place, time and possession.
Form utility refers to the products or services themselves, which customers consume. If you want to get a black shirt and the store has only a red shirt, you won’t pay for the red shirt, which you don’t need. At this time, form utility doesn’t work for you. As each person has a different character, his or her tastes, demand, or sizes are different. The companies need to stock a lot of different kinds of products or services to satisfy form utility for each person’s need.
Another utility is time utility, which refers to whether the item is available at the time when you need it. If you want to get long boots in the summer in N.Y., it would be hard for you to find them. This is because they are seasonal products, and demand of the customers decreases in the summer. As a result, most shoe companies would reduce the supply of the boots. To increase sales, companies tend to consider what a large number of the customers demand at a specific time.
The third utility, place utility, refers to whether the item can be sold at the place where you can buy it. If you want to get Japanese food that is sold only in Japan and you live in the U.S.A, and the food can’t be ordered by mail, you can’t complete the exchange for the item. In order to solve this problem, the companies must consider what kind of people are in their target market and expand their sales category all over the world. For example, they could allow customers to order by mail order or over the Internet.
The last utility is possession utility. It refers to everything that prevents exchange from taking place when the form, time or place utilities are present. If a company accepts only cash, but most customers have only credit cards, customers won’t be able to get the items. The companies need to offer the customer several forms of payment.
The customers are getting smarter nowadays. They won’t be satisfied with unfit or unreasonably priced items. Besides they will look for the faster, more convenient and easier way purchasing something not to waste their time. In order to meet customer’s demand, the companies should carry a wide variety of products or services. Moreover, they should provide several kinds of convenient payment plans for each customer’s circumstance. For these reasons, it is important for the companies to consider at least four utilities.
Works cited
Thieme, Jeff. (2000). Marketing and Society (Powerpoint presentation). [Online]. Available: http://sominfo.syr.edu/facstaff/rjthieme/mar355/Firstday/ppframe.htm
Alina Babaisakova
Fall, 2000
Essay Topic: Define the four marketing utilities and explain their role in business.
For a long time people have opened their business organizations, where they produce many useful products for societies that need them. The general business refers to all such efforts within a society and an industry. Each company wants to achieve and tries to produce its products, however, it can. A product is what a person can exchange, including all material and nonmaterial goods, ideas, and services. Marketing is a process of planning, dealing with price, promoting and distributing ideas, creating goods, and services, and individual or organizational objectives. Utility is a skill of producing goods and services for human needs. For businesses to succeed, they must know all about the four marketing utilities, which are form, place, time, and possession.
Form utility means that the product is in the form that the customer needs. For example, if I wear size six of shoes and the store doesn’t have my size; the shoes don’t have form utility for me, so I will not buy them.
Place utility is based on selling products at a location where customers wish to buy products. For example, I am living in California and I want to buy something from Canada. To do this I need to order by mail from the post office, but the company does not have mail order. Therefore, the product doesn’t have place utility in this case and so I can’t buy it.
Time utility is based on making products available when customers wish to buy them. For example, Halloween costumes might be manufactured in April, but not displayed until September when customers start buying them. So by storing the costumes until they are wanted, the manufacturer provides time utility.
Possession utility is based on ownership of products by the buyer. For example, I go to the shop to buy a suit, which I like. Its right for my size and I want to buy it with a credit card, but the store takes only cash. So that is a problem for me, because I don’t have cash. Therefore, I’m not being able to buy the suit. I may go to another store that takes credit cards or I won’t buy the suit at all.
The four utilities; form, place, time, and possession are each necessary for an exchange to take place. Wherever any one of them is missing, the consumer will not buy the product. Companies that produced goods and services are must pay attention to all aspects of marketing and must listen to customer’s wishes order to be successful.
Sonoko Ando
Fall, 2000
Essay Topic: Discuss the psychological factors involved in advertising. How do advertisers use the basic determinants of consumer behavior--needs, motives, perceptions, and attitudes--in designing product advertisements? What types of ads are most likely to appeal to or change our needs, motives, perceptions, and attitudes?
There are millions of advertisements all over the world. You may not be able to spend a day without being in touch with an advertisement. Advertisements approach you through all of your senses from radio, TV, or newspaper. "Some companies spend millions of dollars per year on advertisement " (Davis Burns and Bryant 1997, p. 236)
Why do the companies focus on advertisements? It's because advertising is the best way for them to appeal to the customers. Moreover, it is the advertisement that determines the companiesimage by giving customers their negative or positive impression. In order to appeal to the customers, companies need to make an effective advertisement based on the psychological factors of consumer behavior, which include needs, motives, perceptions, and attitudes.
A need is something which you require. It is a necessity. A motive involves something that you may not need, but which satisfies you if you have it. A perception is an impression given through the senses. An attitude is the person's positive or negative evaluation in regard to some objects or ideas.
Have you ever been attracted by well-made up super models in the magazine? If you are a woman, you would answer yes. I recently saw a well-made up beautiful model in the magazine. She was in an advertisement for a new eye shadow by Christian Dior. As soon as I saw it, I imagined how beautiful I could be with that eye shadow. In this case, that advertisement caught my psychological factors. Even though I already had several colors of eye shadow, I felt as if I would have to get one of the colors in that advertisement. As a result of the advertisement coming through my eyes, which is called perception, a desire to be like that beautiful model with the eye shadow motivated me to get the same eye shadow. In addition, when I put that eye shadow on, I looked much better than before. It means that my attitude was positive because the product satisfied my desire.
One of effective strategies to give the consumers a favorable image of companies is to use celebrities or famous people in their advertisements. When I was 14 or 15 years old, NIKE sneakers were the trend among my age group. I remembered that Michael Jordan was advertising NIKE sneakers. Being influenced by him, my friends were trying to get the sneakers. A lot of people wanted to be like him with the NIKE sneaker which he put on in the commercial. The NIKE Company increased their capital due to using Michael Jordan's image.
In contrast, companies don't use the celebrities who will give the customer a negative impression because it would decrease the company’s reputation and would decrease their resources. A couple of years ago, Dennis Rodman was really popular. The Converse Company, which is also famous for sneakers, used him in their advertisements. However, as his behavior and attitudes decreased his reputation, the Converse Company started to be afraid of decreasing their resources or reputation, and dropped him from their advertisements.
Another example is that companies try to catch consumers’ attention by giving them a preview of the products. There was an advertisement for CHANEL perfume in the magazine. It showed a woman who held the perfume, and on the side of the page, there was a folded paper with the perfume scent. That smell was so good that I felt that I wanted to get the perfume. There was another company, which allowed potential customers to listen to whatever music they like before they go to the CD store over the Internet.
It is good advertising to let the consumers try a product before they buy it. Most people would enjoy previewing the products, and consumers can decide if they are going to buy them or not without needing pay for them. At the same time, the consumers must have good image of the company. These reasons aid in the effectiveness of advertising.
Companies need to inform consumers about what products or services are available through advertising. Moreover, they have to make an effective advertisement, which gives the consumers a powerful and positive impression. In order to do so, they have to consider the psychological factors of consumer behavior. An effective advertisement is the key point for the companies to be competitive and raise their capital.
Work Cited
Burns, David and Bryan, Nancy O. (1997). The Business of Fashion. New York: Fairchild Publications.
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