TRANSPORTATION FIRMS

As a product moves from producer to consumer, it must often travel long distances. In addition, if the channel of distribution includes several firms, the product must be moved a number of times before it becomes ac­cessible to consumers. Transportation firms assist marketers in moving products from one point in a channel to the next. An important matter of negotiation between companies working together in a channel is whether the sender or receiver of goods is responsible for transportation. Move­ment of products usually involves significant cost, risk, and time manage­ment. Thus, when firms consider a transportation option, they carefully weigh its dependability and price, frequency of operation, and accessibili­ty. A firm that has its own transportation capabilities is known as a private carrier. There are also contract carriers, which are independent transpor­tation firms that can be hired by companies on a long-term or short-term basis. A common carrier provides services to any and all companies be­tween predetermined points on a scheduled basis.

II. Answer the questions:

1. What do transportation firms assist marketers in? 2. What is an important matter of negotiation between companies working together? 3. What does move­ment of products usually involve? 4. What do firms carefully weigh when they consider a transportation option? 5. What is a private carrier ? 6. What basis can transpor­tation firms be hired ?

CONSUMER-GOODS MARKETING

Consumer-goods marketing studies consumer needs for con­sumer goods in the market and produces those consumer goods that meet consumer needs. Consumer-goods marketing divides consumer goods into convenience goods, shopping goods, specialty goods, and unsought goods.

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CONSUMER GOODS

Consumer goods are ones purchased for satisfying people's wants and needs rather than for producing other goods or services. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods may include automobiles, furniture, and household appliances. Durable goods have a significant life span, often defined as three years or more, and consumption is spread over this span. Nondurable goods may include food, clothing, and gaso­line. Nondurable goods are purchased for immediate or almost immediate consumption and have a life span ranging from minutes to three years. Consumer goods differ from producer goods that are manufactured and used in further manufacturing, processing, or resale. Producer goods are divided into intermediate goods and capital goods. Intermediate goods ei­ther become part of the final product or lose their distinct identity in the manufacturing process, while capital goods are the plant, production equipment, and industrial buildings used to produce final products. The total value of the final consumer good depends upon the value of interme­diate goods and capital goods used to produce this final product.

II. Answer the questions:

I. What are consumer goods purchased for? 2. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable, mayn't they? 3. May durable goods include automobiles, furniture, and household appliances? 4. The life span of durable goods is defined as three years or more, isn't it? 5. The consumption of durable goods is spread over three years or more, isn't it? 6. Do nondurable goods include food, clothing, and gasoline? 7. What consumption are nondurable goods purchased for? 8. Nondurable goods have a life span ranging from minutes to three years, don't they? 9. Are producer goods manufactured and used in further manufacturing, processing, or resale? 10. What goods are divided into intermediate goods and capital goods? 11. What goods either become part of the final product or lose their distinct identity in the manufacturing process? 12. Do capital goods include plants, production equipment, and industrial buildings?

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CONVENIENCE GOODS

Convenience goods are those that the customer purchases frequently, im­mediately, and with minimum effort. They are easily available. Mostly, convenience goods come in the category of nondurable goods such as like fast foods, confectionaries, and cigarettes, with low value. The goods are mostly sold by wholesalers to make them available to the consumers in good volume. Convenience goods are divided into staple goods, impulse goods, and emergency goods. A second type of product is the shopping good, which usually requires a more involved selection process than convenience goods. A consumer usually compares a variety of attributes, including suitability, quality, price, and style. Homogeneous shopping goods are those that are approx­imately equal in quality and similar in style but different enough in price, therefore the deciding factor for consumers to make their final choice of buying this or that product is price. These products might include auto­mobile tires or television sets. With heterogeneous shopping goods, prod­uct features, such as suitability, quality, or style, become more important to the consumer than price. Such is often the case with the purchase of clothing and furniture. In this situation, the product purchased must be a certain size or colour and must perform very specific functions. With goods of this sort, the seller has to carry a wide assortment to satisfy indi­vidual tastes and must have well-trained salespeople to provide both in­formation and advice to consumers.

II. Answer the questions:

1. Shopping goods usually require a more involved selection process than convenience goods, don't they? 2. What product features do consumers need to understand how good or useful products are? 3. What are homo­geneous shopping goods? 4. The deciding factor for consumers to make their final choice of buying homogeneous shopping goods is price, isn't it? 5. With heterogeneous shopping goods, product features become more important to the consumer than price, don't they? 6. With heterogeneous shopping goods, the seller has to carry a wide assortment to satisfy indi­vidual tastes, doesn't he? 7. With heterogeneous shopping goods, the sell­er must have well-trained salespeople to provide both information and ad­vice to consumers, mustn't he?

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SPECIALTY GOODS

Specialty goods have particularly unique characteristics and brand identi­fications for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a spe­cial purchasing effort. Brand identifications imply the identification of the customer's personality and his lifestyle with a particular brand, the cus­tomer's positive associations connected with the brand chosen, and the customer's confidence that his choice of the brand has been correct. Brand identifications concern mainly luxury goods. Examples include spe­cific brands of jewellery, luxury cars and flats, professional photographic equipment, expensive fur coats, and high-fashion clothing. For instance, consumers who favour goods produced by a certain shoe manufacturer or furniture maker will, if necessary, travel considerable distances in order to purchase that particular brand. In specialty-goods markets, sellers do not encourage comparisons between commodities. Specialty goods make buy­ers invest time to reach dealers carrying the product desired, and these dealers therefore do not necessarily need to be conveniently located.

II. Answer the questions:

1. What do specialty goods have? 2. What is a significant group of buyers willing to make a special purchasing effort for? 3. What do brand identifi­cations imply? 4. What goods do brand identifications mainly concern? 5. What do sellers do in specialty-goods markets? 6. What do buyers do in specialty-goods markets?

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UNSOUGHT GOODS

An unsought good is one that a consumer does not know about — or knows about but does not normally think of buying. New products, such as new frozen-food concepts or new communications equipment, are un­sought until consumers learn about them through word-of-mouth influ­ence or advertising. In addition, the need for unsought goods may not seem urgent to the consumer, and purchase is often deferred. This is fre­quently the case with life insurance, preventive car maintenance, and cemetery plots. Because of this, unsought goods require significant mar­keting efforts. Advertising and personal selling are the best ways to sell unsought goods. Advertising activities on television, in newspapers, and on the Internet are remarkably effective and highly influential in defining the number or kind of people that unsought goods are supposed to at­tract. Personal selling is the activity in which salesmen present their com­pany's product to potential customers in a face-to-face meeting and pressingly persuade them to buy it.

II. Answer the questions:

1. What is an unsought good? 2. Unsought goods are unsought until con­sumers learn about them through word-of-mouth influence or advertis­ing, aren't they? 3. The need for unsought goods may not seem urgent to the consumer, may it? 4. Is the purchase of unsought goods often de­ferred? 5. Unsought goods may include life insurance, preventive car maintenance, and cemetery plots, mayn't they? 6. Do unsought goods re­quire significant marketing efforts? 7. What are the best ways to sell un­sought goods? 8. What are advertising activities remarkably effective and highly influential in? 9. What is meant by the term "personal selling"?

SERVICES MARKETING

A service is an act of labour or a performance that does not pro­duce a tangible commodity and does not result in the cus­tomer's ownership of anything. Services can be distinguished from products because they are intangible, inseparable from the production process, variable, and perishable.

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Date: 2015-12-11; view: 865