| Yun Ji |
| Yelena 1 |
| Yelena 2 |
Yun Ji Pan
ESL 91
Spring, 2003
Essay Topic: Explore the area of marketing in business. What is marketing? How have the principles of marketing changed as a result of the Internet?
Marketing includes products’ creation, production, pricing, merchandising, and the exchange services after the selling that satisfy the consumers. The key of marketing is to figure out what the customers want, and then to achieve the customers’ need.
When the companies develop a product, the first thing that the companies need to do is design a good package that will attract the consumers’ sense to buy the products. When the market accepts the products, the companies need to do is balance the production and the price. According to the text” Product Development and Merchandising” by Loretta F. Kasper, “Merchandising refers to the planning and control of goods or services to provide effective product development and to ensure that the product will be available at a place, time, price, and quantity that will be conducive to profitable sale” (p. 81). Companies must plan to create a lot of ways to sell their products in order to get more profits. Companies must consider that their products are available at a good timing, a right place, a popular price and that quantity of products they sell is profitable. Sometimes companies will do a lot of promotions in order to increase the selling rate. They will use media such as TV, radio or on the bus and subway to promote their products. Also, there is another way to promote products; companies will cut the price or send some coupons to the customers. Even though companies just have slight profit to sell their products, the more products they sell, the more profits they get.
If companies wish to be successful in their efforts to develop and sell products, they must consider marketing utilities. There are four types of utilities to be considered in developing and marketing a product. The utilities determine whether or not an exchange will take place. This exchange is the definition of marketing. The four utilities are: form, place, time, and possession. These four types of utilities are very important rules for companies sell their products. If one of these four types of utilities is missing, probably the exchange won’t take place. Companies must consider these utilities when products are to be sold, make sure to let customers know that their products are sold in the right place, at a good time that the form of products are all available and customers are allowed to use all kinds of payment.
Companies determine their products’ price is basic in the law of supply and demand. If supply exceeds demand, the price must go down; if the demand exceeds supply, the price must go up. When companies provide a lot of products to the market, the price must go down so that customers will consider purchasing; if the products are limited, companies must increase the price in order to get a competition with others.
The key to companies achieving success in their business is to allow consumers to exchange or return the products. The reason why companies create this exchange or return policy is because some customers may not be satisfied after they use the product. Or maybe the customers feel that the products are not fit for them in some cases, so they want to return it or exchange for other products that are useful for them. However, a return policy is the best opportunity to find out what the consumers need. The companies may find some tips from the customers return policy because the customers will share their feelings when they are using the products. So, the companies will know what kind of products will be useful for the consumers and they will develop the products closer to the consumers’ needs in the future.
When the Internet came out, a lot of companies put their
products on the Internet not only improve their competition, but also to let
customers buy them whenever they want and without worrying about the four
utilities. In fact, shopping on the Internet is more convenient than shopping
in a store. First of all, the customers don’t have to waste their time to go to
the store and find what they want. Second, they can buy everything on the
Internet. When they go on the Internet, they will see a lot of pictures in
front of their eyes, or when the customers check their email, they will have a
lot of commercials in their box.
According to the article” Marketing on the Internet” by Gary Witt at www.marketingpsychology.com: “It is about the psychology behind influencing the people who visit your site”. The companies catch the consumers’ psychology because they think that most people prefer to stay home and use the Internet to buy what they want. The advantage for people shopping online is that they don’t worry about the four utilities, which are the time, place, form and possession. People will think that all they need to do is click the mouse and get the products. They don’t have to worry that the product is not available in their neighborhood or the size is not fit for them. Shopping on the Internet is just like people walking in the big department store. The difference is people will find more products than in the real department store; sometimes the product will not be sold in the store but you can find them on the Internet. Also people will find a lot of surprises shopping on the Internet, such as low prices or all sizes available.
In order to attract more customers to visit the web page, the companies need to create a very specific site and provide a special price for some products. The most important thing for the web page is that the speed must be fast because the customers will lose their patience waiting there for a long time; it’s the same as waiting in line in the store. Also the companies need to provide a security system in order to protect the customers’ personal information when they are visiting or buying products from the web page. They must make sure that the customers won’t worry that their information will be stolen. The consumers go on the Internet, not only because it’s convenient to buy products, but also because the price is always lower than the same products sold in store. Some companies will give the customers lots of specific discounts such as shipping, rebate, buy one get one free.
In short, not only does the Internet give companies a specific way to raise up their market competition, but also gives all the consumers more ways to get what they need. When the companies put their business on the Internet, the more people search it, the more benefit they will get. Even the people who want to open their own business can also put it on the Internet. For example, on ”ebay.com”, you can find everything: cars, houses… sometimes you will find some old fashioned things. So the Internet gives a wide space to the marketing and gives the fastest way for people to buy things. It makes it easier for people to buy what they need. It helps people to save time to find what they need.
Although shopping online is more convenient and is cheaper than outside, I prefer to go to the store and buy the product. Because I can’t touch and I can’t see the product very clearly on the Internet, maybe the size is not fit for me when I try it on. Another thing is that Internet doesn’t accept cash, so it’s not good for people who don’t have credit cards but want to shop on the Internet. In this situation, there are two types of utilities that don’t take place, which are form and possession and it means that the exchange won’t take place.
Since the Internet came up, it has changed companies’
marketing direction from store to computer. It gives companies another way to
sell their products; however, it also gives more competition to companies. Not
only can the big companies put their products on the Internet, but also the
individuals. The Internet gives people the opportunity to create their own business;
all they need to do is create a web page and put products on the Internet. But
the point is they need to provide the fastest program on their web site to make
sure that the customers don’t have to wait a long time to finish the procedure.
In order to survive in this strong competition, companies must keep their
Internet service fresh, interesting and good. They must make sure the products
are the new release and the web page is unique.
Return to the Top of this page
Yelena Vilents
ESL 91
Spring, 2003
Essay Topic: Explore the area of marketing in business. What is marketing? How have the principles of marketing changed because of the Internet?
According to the text “Business” by William M.Pride, Robert
J.Hughes, and Jack R.Kaproor, “Marketing is 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
objectives” (page A57). In another words, marketing is one of the main parts of
the business process. It involves the exchanging of goods or services and has
the basic concept of finding the consumer’s needs and filling them. There is no marketing without
merchandising. According to “Retail Management: A Strategic Approach” by Barry
Berman and Joel R.Evans “Merchandising is all activities involved in acquiring particulars
goods and services and making them available at the places, times, and prices
and in the quantity to enable a retailer to reach its goals”(page A24). Therefore,
merchandising involves selling and buying.
Because the goal of merchandising and marketing is the
successful development of products and the satisfactory all customer needs,
companies should complete four marketing utilities: form, place, time, and
possession. However, even if the all of marketing utilities have been
completed, the company should remember about the law of “supply and demand”. This
is the basic factor that determines the price of item. If the supply exceeds demand,
the price must go down. If the demand exceeds supply, the price must go up.
I describe
the marketing as a science of business. Nevertheless, as any science, business
marketing has development and change. The Internet has become a reality. As a result
of the Internet, the principles of marketing have been transformed. To best understand the terms of marketing
and the way they have been changed by the Internet, let me tell the story “How
I Bought My Student Book”. In this story, the book is the object of
merchandising. I am the consumer or
customer, and different bookstores are the companies that provide costumer
service for me. The current example
from my own background can help me explain what “marketing”, “marketing
utilities”, and “supply and demand” mean. As well as how the principles of
marketing have been changed by the Internet.
In September of last year, I had to buy a student
book “Principles of Financial Accounting” by Belverd E. Needles and M. Powers.
It not a secret that most student books are very expensive. Before making a purchase, I did a small
marketing research: how much does this book cost in different bookstores?
First, I came to the bookstore
inside Kingsborough. There were used and new books. Moreover, the same book was
published in different forms with soft and hard covers. A new book was offered
with two notebooks and without them. The huge form utility has been worked. However,
prices depended on the current item. It started as $40. The most expensive book
with two working notebooks cost $120. I summarized the information and went to the
next store.
The next stop of my research was the
bookstore outside the college. There
were used books only. Prices started at $50. Therefore, I preferred to come back
to the store inside Kingsborough the next day. Next day, when I came back to the
inside store, I found a used book which cost $60. Form utility worked for me,
but place utility did not.
I felt blue. At home, I called my
brother and told him the horrible story of how I couldn’t get my book. He said: