Marketing diagnosis and concepts

Marketing concepts
Marketing Myopia

• Marketing myopia simply refers to a narrowed approach of defining the

business’s purpose or line of work.
- In other words, Theodore Levitt argues that some industries have a
shortsighted approach to marketing.
- Meaning that executives should focus more on customer orientation
rather than a production orientation.
• Businesses thieve when their focus is on consumer needs and wants, rather
than selling products.
 • Major innovations and improvement tend to come from outside their
intended industries. For example: the improvements in the gasoline industry
don’t originate from the oil industry.
• To illustrate this point, the railroad industry defined their business according
to the product they made (trains and tracks), as opposed to the need they
were fulfilling (efficient transportation).
• A characteristic of a successful industry comprises of a management team that
has exceptional abilities is financial control, product research, and
management training.
• For a growing industry to thrive, a high level of resourcefulness is required to
turn opportunities into viable solutions for customers. For example: industries
such as the dry cleaning, electric utilities, and grocery stores.
• Theodore argued that problems viewed as potential threats can become
possible opportunities in the long-term if approached properly.
• These are examples of recent marketing myopia:
- Hollywood
- Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Consequences of defining your business according to your product, as
opposed to your customer needs:
- Intense focus on incremental improvements.
- Smaller businesses might be able to meet the same customer needs in
an alternative way.
- Over focus on competitor’s actions, rather than on changing customer’s
needs.
- Complacency
• Why is it difficult to put this concept into practice?
- Because taking advantage of comprehending marketing myopia
requires marketing management to change their production model. In
a way this entails that a business must offload profitable assets and
focus on consumer needs to remain successful in the long-term.

Market needs and wants

Marketing orientations
• In order to meet the needs and wants of the consumers the business should
operate according to the following market orientations:
o Production concept
▪ consumers prefer products that are widely available and
inexpensive.
▪ This might lead to marketing myopia, by which businesses will
focus on the product rather than customer needs.
o Product concept
 ▪ Refers to the notion that consumers will give preference to
products that offer high quality, performance, and innovative
features.
▪ In other words, assumes consumers prefer products that have
quality and utility.
▪ This may also lead to marketing myopia if the business neglects
consumer needs and relationships.
o Selling concept
▪ assumes that consumers will only buy products if the business
aggressively sells/promotes the product.
▪ the main is to encourage consumers to transaction, not long-
term relationships.
▪ typically comprises of unsought consumer products (life cover)
o Marketing concept
▪ focuses on meeting the needs and wants of target markets and
proving value.
▪ this represents a consumer-orientated approach and product-
market fit concept.
o Societal marketing concept
▪ Focuses on marketing decisions by considering consumer's
needs, wants, and their long-term interest.
▪ link to a business's CSR and shared value
▪ focuses on maintaining good relationships between consumers,
company, and the environment.

Understanding the micro and macro environment

The marketplace
• The marketplace for the business consists of the following:
o The internal environment
▪ The internal environment of the business consists of different
department within the business at which the consumer marketer
works.
▪ Departments within the business include finance, R&D,
accounting, and management.
o The Micro-environment
▪ Consumers
- Consumers are catered for by the following markets.
- Consumer market
o People purchase goods for personal use.
o E.g. toothpaste, car, clothes
- Business market
 o B2B, purchase products to use in their production
process.
o E.g. Pioneer foods and Amazon.com (Saas/Paas)
- Reseller market
o purchase goods to resell for profit.
o e.g. spaza or wholesalers
- Non-profit market
o Consists of government departments or NPO that
purchase products or services in order to provide
public services.
▪ Competitors
- Since there are few businesses that operate free from
competition.
- Another important concept:
o Share of voice
▪ Measure of the presence of advertising or
strength for a particular brand or product.
▪ In other words, refers to a brand's or
company's proportion of the total
conversation or mentions within a specific
market or industry.
o Share of dashboard
▪ refers to a brand's visibility or presence on a
particular platform.
- There are five types of competitors should be aware of:
- Direct competitors
o Direct competitors sell very similar product or
service to the same target market.
o Their products need to be priced in the same
range to be considered direct competition.
o E.g. Red Bull and Play (brand competitor)
- Indirect competitors
o Indirect competitors sell products or service that
are not identical but satisfy the same consumer
need.
o Rice and Maize Meal [compete in the stable food
industry]
o Soft drink and snack [compete for share of
snack/throat]
o Food and airtime [compete for share of wallet]
- Replacement competitors
o These types of competitors sell different products
or service, but the result of the product is similar.
 o The competitor often offers very different product
or service that can solve the same need.
o Mountain biking and jogging.
o Generic competitor and total budget competitor
[going to gym or buying home equipment]
- Distant competitors
o Competitor sells similar product or service to
different location demographics.
o In other words, Distant competitors are companies
that operate in different industries or offer
different products or services but still compete for
a share of wallet.
o This may a direct or indirect competitor that has
not entered the local firm’s market.
o Netflix and Spotify
- Potential competitors
o Potential competitors can be existing companies
that may expand into your market, startups
disrupting the industry, or even companies from
different industries that could enter your market.
o E.g. Apple Inc. [possible to produce cars in the
future]
- Some terms used when discussing the competitive
landscape.
o Market leader
▪ This refers to the firm that holds the
most/highest market share in the industry.
▪ The often have strong brand recognition
and set market trends.
▪ Coca-Cola and Standard Bank
o Market challenger
▪ This refers to firms that always seek to gain
or increase their market share by
challenging the dominance of the market
leader.
▪ They often introduce innovative products,
aggressive marketing strategies, or
competitive pricing to capture a larger share
of the market.
▪ PepsiCo
o Market follower
▪ Market followers are companies that closely
monitor market trends and competitors'
 actions but do not actively seek to challenge
the market leader.
▪ They typically focus on maintaining a stable
market position with much lower
investment cost than the leader and
challenger.
▪ Caters to specific market segments.
▪ African Bank and
o Market niche-r
▪ Market niche-r are companies that serve a
specialized market segment with unique
needs or preferences.
▪ They focus on delivering highly specialized
products or services to a specific target
audience.
▪ Red Bull
▪ Suppliers
- Consumer marketers need to consider and monitor
availability, quality, and delays to ensure timely responses.
- There’s a need to monitor suppliers input prices closely,
as an increase in input price will trigger an increase in
selling price.
- A firm needs to monitor the following to remain
successful:
o Quality of products
o Reliability of individual suppliers
o Bargaining power of suppliers
o Business ethics and conduct
▪ Marketing intermediaries
- These refers to entities that help the business to promote,
sell and distribute its product to its customers.
- Distributors assist in ensuring sustainable and efficient
flow of goods and services from manufacturers to final
consumers.
▪ Other stakeholders

o The Macro-environment
▪ Social
- Factors that influence the society’s basic values, morals,
beliefs, perceptions, and preferences
- These include:
o Demographics
 ▪ This includes age, race, location, and
gender.
▪ Gen X (1965-1975), Millennial (1977-1997),
Gen 2020 (born-free).
o Education
o Cultural beliefs
o Health and welfare
▪ Financial environment
- The financial environment comprises of the public sector
enterprises, that directly and indirectly affect financial
system.
- With limited resources and a history of financial exclusion,
many South Africans resorted to other forms of financial
management such as stokvels and mashonisas.
- Many poor South Africans depend on government grants
mostly in the form of child support and pensions.
▪ Technological environment
- Forces that create new technologies, new products and
market opportunities.
- Awareness of advancement in technology
▪ Ethical environment
- Refers to the range of social values that shape business
behaviour.
- Assesses the level of confidentiality, privacy and security,
and transparency.
▪ Political environment
- These are any decision made by the government that
affect the firm’s behaviour in the markets.
- Governmental policies in place
- The stability of the political environment
- Restrictions placed on business and international trade.
▪ Environmental
- The natural resources that are needed as inputs that
affect marketing activities.
- Shortage of raw materials
- Climate change
- Increase demand of sustainable business practice.

Segmentation
Segmentation
• Market segmentation refers to the process of dividing a broad consumer or
business market into subcategories of consumers based on shared
characteristics.
• The role of segmenting process is to help guide the business in development
and implementation of most appropriate marketing mix.
• Segmentation is part of diagnosis and is required before targeting can take
place.
• During the segmentation process, the market is sized and divided into
homogenous groups.
• The following are relevant segmentation variables:
- Product consumption
▪ User/Non-user
▪ Heavy, medium, or light consumption of the product.
▪ Consumption of specific brands, own brand, or competitor
brand.
- Demographic
▪ This assumes the consumers’ needs and wants are closely tied to
their demographics.
▪ For example, cosmetic, sanitary protection, and baby products
could be likely targeted towards the women, as opposed to the
men.
▪ Another example, if a brand is only available in a certain area or
region, the segmentation process would reveal a target market
of people who live in the same geography.
- Psychographic
▪ Considers different perceptions that consumes have, personality
traits, value, attitudes, and lifestyle factors.
▪ Provides insights into what ideas of new product development
area and new designs might meet specific needs.
▪ This includes:
• Views on the environment
• Personality traits
• Attitudes (trendy, stylish, professional, and socialist)
- Behavioural
▪ This looks at specific groups of people based on activities
(Young professional buying chinos, Matric students buying
clothes for matric ball, Muslims buying Eid clothing).
▪ Benefits.
▪ Usage rates.
▪ Consumer patterns
▪ For example, Virgin active would segment the market into non-
active, moderately active, and heavily active.
▪ Another example, FlySafair would segment the travel market into
business and leisure travelers, and within the leisure travelers’
market, they may want to target single people, young families,
and pensioners.
 ▪
- Device and Media usage
▪ Technical products may target the technology savvy and literate
users.
▪ For example, a TV broadcaster channel would target television
viewers, and convenience products may want to target an on-
the-go market.
• Requirements for effective segmentation (MASDA).
- Measurable
▪ The size of the marker should be measurable.
- Accessible
▪ The market segment should be reachable, particularly in terms
of distribution and communication.
- Substantial
▪ The market segment should be large enough in terms of sales
and profitability to warrant a business’s potential attention.
- Differential
▪ Homogenous
• Consumers allocated to each segment should be similar
in some relevant way.
▪ Heterogenous
• Each segment of consumers should be relatively unique
compared to the other segments that have been
constructed.
- Actionable
▪ The business needs to be able to implement a distinctive
marketing mix for each market segment.

Consumer Marketing Strategy:

Marketing strategy:
Alignment with corporate strategy
• Corporate strategy is the direction and scope of a business over the long-
term.
• Formulating a competitive corporate strategy requires a business to consider
both the consumer and the competitive context in which the business
operates.
• Concepts involved in defining a strategy include:
- Direction
- Scope
- Time frame
- Matching resources to a changing environment
- Defining market, customers, and clients.
- Meeting stakeholders’ expectations.
• Corporate strategy process:
- Analyze
▪ Begins with the analysis of the current situation in which the
business operates in.
▪ This step involves analysing the macro-environment, the
competitive environment, and the internal environment.
 ▪ Where are we now?
- Plan
▪ Focus on creating an intense focus on the few things that matter
most to an organization’s success.
▪ Where do we want to be?
- Execute
▪ Deals with the allocation and deployment of scarce resources.
▪ How are we going to get there?
- The feedback loop.
▪ Every strategic cycle starts with feedback from previous
experiences.
▪ Did we get there?
• A business can use the product/market expansion grid (Ansoff Matrix) to
analyze and plan their growth trajectory.
• The four generic strategies of the Ansoff Matrix are:

-
- Market penetration:
▪ This refers to taking an existing product and penetrating it
deeper into a current market.
▪ In other words, focuses on increasing sales of existing products
or services to an existing market.
▪ This occurs in an existing market.
▪ Achieved through:
• Building of new stores
• Increased advertising
• Change in prices
• Increased promotions
- Product development
▪ If the business has a strong understanding of their current
market and can provide innovative solutions to their consumers
needs in that existing market.
▪ The business introduces and develops a new product to cater for
the existing market.
 ▪ This occurs in an existing market.
▪ For example, the expansion of a cereal brand into individual bars
(from the breakfast category to the snack category)
- Market development
▪ Involves identifying and developing new market for an existing
product.
▪ This occurs in a new market.
▪ The market development strategy is most successful if:
• Business owns better technology.
• Consumers in the new market are profitable.
• Different age groups
▪ Establishing new stores in area that are not currently exposed to
the product.
- Diversification
▪ Starting up or buying businesses outside of the current products
or market.
▪ This occurs in a new market.
▪ Best suitable when the current market is saturated, and
expansion and development will have little or no effect.
- Downsizing
▪ Reducing or phasing out profitable areas of the firm.
▪ Business may want to sell other products that hasn’t been as
profitable due to inexperience.
▪ Some business and products also naturally age and die out.

Targeting
• Targeting is the process of selecting and evaluating each market’s segment’s
attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter.
• Once the business understands who the target audience is, the marketing mix
is tailored accordingly.
• A target market is a group of consumers that the business selects and market
to and is the most attractive and profitable.
• The selection of a target market is one of final steps within market
segmentation process.
• Target market strategies:
- Mass marketing
▪ This strategy involves no segmentation.
▪ In other words, this focuses on the whole market with one offer.
▪ Assumes that all customers have similar needs and wants.
 • Advantage: potential savings on production and
marketing costs
• Disadvantage: unimaginative product offerings.
- Segmented (differentiated) marketing.
▪ Provides different offers to different market segments.
• Advantages: greater financial success and economies of
scale in production.
• Disadvantage: high cost and cannibalism.
- Niche marketing.
▪ Concentrates on one or a few segments or niches.
▪ In other words, focuses on a small, well defined market segment.
• Advantage: dedicated resources, better competitive
position, and stronger positioning.
• Disadvantage: segment might be too small.
- Micro marketing
▪ This is commonly used in the business market.
▪ Can either be local or individual marketing:
• Local marketing refers tailoring brands and promotions to
the needs and wants of cities, neighborhoods, and
specific stores.
• Individual marketing caters to only one person.
• For example, personalized skincare product and a jewelry
design offers catered to individual customers.

• When choosing a strategy to implement, consider:

- The firm’s resources availability.
- Product and market variability
- Product life cycle
- Competitors marketing strategies
Positioning
Positioning

• Positioning refers to the unique position the product or the business holds in
the mind of the consumer.
• It involves creating a distinct image and identity that resonates with the target
market.
• Effective positioning communicates the unique benefits and differentiates the
product or brand, aiming to make it the preferred choice among consumers.
• This represents what you promise to your consumers, and this is often
reflected in the brands slogans.
- For example, PepsiCo positioned themselves as the choice of the
younger generation.
• Positioning bases:
- By product attribute
▪ Positioning based on specific product attributes and or features.
• For example, All Gold Tomato Sauce emphasizing its
natural ingredients and rich flavor.
• For example, Apple positioning its iPhone based on sleek
design and user-friendly interface.
• Another example, Land Rover positioning its vehicles
based on off-road capabilities and ruggedness.
- By price and quality
▪ Positioning based on the relationship between price and quality,
often targeting value-conscious or premium segments.
• For example, checkers "House brand" offering affordable
products without compromising quality.
• Mercedes-Benz positioning itself as a luxury car brand
with high-quality standards.
• Makro targeting businesses with bulk discounts while
maintaining product quality.
- By users’ application
▪ Positioning based on how the product will be used or the
specific application it serves.
• Weber positioning its grills for outdoor cooking
enthusiasts.
• Microsoft Office targeting businesses and professionals
for productivity applications.
• Nike positioning its running shoes for athletes and sports
enthusiasts.
- By product user
 ▪ Positioning based on the characteristics or demographics of the
target market.
▪ Associates the product with a person.
• Dove positioning its beauty products for women of all
ages and skin types.
• LEGO targeting children and parents who value creativity
and learning through play.
• CAMEL targeting men
- By class of user
▪ Positioning based on the social class or status of the target user.
• Louis Vuitton positioning its luxury handbags for affluent
consumers.
• Gucci targeting high-income individuals with its premium
fashion products.
• Montblanc positioning its pens and accessories for
executives and professionals.
• Johnson & Johnson positions its product on its effect of
gentleness on the baby’s skin.
- By competitor
▪ Positioning based on directly comparing product to the
competitors.
• Pepsi positioning itself against Coca-Cola by emphasizing
a different taste and brand image.
• Avis positioning itself as the second-largest car rental
company by highlighting their effort to try harder than
the top competitor.
• Principles of positioning
- Important
▪ Offers a highly valued benefit.
- Distinctive
▪ Competitors don’t offer it.
- Affordable.
▪ Consumers can afford to pay the difference.
- Superior
▪ Better than other ways to obtain the same benefit.
• Repositioning
- Involves changing the existing perception of a product or brand in the
minds of consumers.
- This strategic shift can be necessary for several reasons, including:
▪ Changes in the market conditions
▪ Consumer preferences
▪ Competitive landscape
▪ Internal business objectives
 ▪ Product refresh or reimage
- For example, Old Spice was initially positioned for older men, but it has
since underwent a successful repositioning to target younger men.
• Differentiation
- One of the fundamental ways to create a positioning strategy is to
differentiate their offering.
- Differentiation is offering the consumers something of more value than
the competitors.
- With the help of perception maps, we can determine where important
aspects of a category of products are.
- The figure below represents the overall similarity method.

- Businesses need to follow 3 steps when identifying relevant strategy:

▪ Identify the consumer value differences that provide potential
competitive advantages.
▪ Choose the right competitive advantage.
• Competitive advantage refers to the advantage over
competitors gained by offering either lower prices or
providing additional benefits to justify higher prices.
▪ Select an overall positioning strategy.
- Differentiation strategies:
▪ Product differentiation
• Choosing a unique product feature
• Volvo, differentiates their brand product by highlighting
safety features.
▪ Service differentiation
• Differentiates brand by implementing speedy, convenient
and efficient delivery services.
• Mc Donald’s drive-thru
 ▪ Channel differentiation
▪ People differentiation
▪ Image differentiation
• Branding
- A brand is an identifying symbol, mark, logo, name, word or sentence
that companies use to distinguish their products from others.
- In other words, a brand can be considered a process of crafting a
unique name and image for the product in the customer’ s mind.
- The aim of branding is to:
▪ Clearly differentiate the brand from the competitor.
▪ Gain a competitive advantage.
▪ Justify a price premium.
- Brand equity
▪ describe the total picture or rather what everyone who comes
into contact with the brand thinks and feels about it over time.
▪ For example, consumer is willing to pay a high price for a white
T-shirt with a Gucci logo on it, compared the same shirt with no
logo.
▪ Another example, Some of South Africa's most valuable brands
include: Capitec Bank, Castle Lager, FNB, Sasol, Telkom and
Discovery.
- Brand development process
▪ Brand positioning
•
▪ Brand name selection
• Should carefully consider the product and its benefits, the
target market and the marketing strategies.
• A good brand name has the following qualities:
o It can be easily pronounced (White Star and Omo),
o The name is unique and distinctive (Spur, Avis,
Simba, and Clicks).
o The name can be easily extended (for example,
Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Active, and Virgin Money).
▪ Brand sponsorship
• Manufacturer's brand
• Private brand
• Licensing
• Co-branding
▪ Brand development
• Line extensions
o This involve expanding an existing brand to include
new products that target a different segment of
the market or fulfill a different need.
 o In other words, this means extending an existing
brand name to new forms, colours, sizes,
ingredients or flavours of an existing product
category.
o For example, line extension is how the Coca-Cola
Coke product extended into Coke Light, Coke Diet
and Coke Zero.
o Another example, A shampoo brand introducing a
new line of conditioners, hair gels, or hair masks or
a beverage brand expanding from sodas to include
energy drinks or flavored water.
• Brand extensions
o This represents extending an existing brand name
to new product categories.
o Avoids high advertising costs that would be
incurred if the brand was to launch a new brand.
o The risk associated with this is the confusion
around the image of the main product.

o
• Multi-brands
o This is when companies introduce additional
brands within the same product category.
o This strategy allows companies to establish
different features and appeal to different buying
motives.
o It also allows the company to acquire more shelf
space in stores.
o For Examples include Procter and Gamble's
shampoo product ranges, which includes the
Pantene and Head & Shoulders brands.
• New brands
 o The company creates a new brand name as it
enters a new product category. Companies do this
when their existing brand name is weakening.
- Brand development process
▪ Brand
-

Integrated Marketing Plan:

Marketing tactics:

Product
• A product is any combination of tangible, intangible objects, or services that
satisfy a customer want or need.
• In other words, it’s a manifestation of a business’s physical attempt to satisfy
the needs and wants of consumers.
• There are several types of products, including:
- Physical products
 ▪ Anything that can be offered to the market for attention,
acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or
want.
▪ For example, Petrol, Snack bar, Colgate, BMW
- Service
▪ This is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another
that is essentially intangible and doesn’t result in ownership of
anything.
▪ For example, Airline services, Consulting,
▪ Car wash
▪ Phone repair store
- Experience
▪ Creating and managing unique customer experience using
products and services, in order to improve customer
engagement.
• The levels of products and services
- Core benefit
▪ This refers to the fundamental need or want the product or
service satisfies.
▪ In other words, it’s the primary reason why a consumer buys a
product or service.
▪ For example, the core benefit of a smartphones is the ability to
facilitate communication, via calls, text, internet connectivity.
▪ Another example, the core benefit of a hotel is providing a place
for travelers to rest and sleep.
- Actual benefit
▪ Refers to the tangible, physical product, or service offering that
delivers the core benefit.
▪ This includes product design, brand name, packaging, features,
quality level.
▪ For example, the specific smartphone model, such as an iPhone,
including its features like camera quality, screen size, and
operating system.
▪ Another example, for the specific hotel room, including the bed,
bathroom, furnishings, room service, and the hotel’s brand
reputation.
- Augmented product
▪ Refers to the additional services and benefits that enhance the
product’s value and differentiate it from competitors.
▪ For example, for the smartphone, the additional benefits such as
warranty, installation, delivery, customer service, and software
updates.
• The different product and service classification
- Consumer product
▪ These are products purchased by the final consumer for
personal consumption.
▪ This includes:
• Convenience products
o These are frequently purchased at low prices.
o For example, toothpaste and laundry detergent.
• Shopping products
o Less frequent purchases at. Higher prices.
o For example, furniture, and television.
• Specialty products
o Strong brand preference and loyalty at higher
prices.
o For example, Rolex and MontBlanc.
• Unsought products
o Price varies.
o For example, life insurance and pre-planned
funeral cover.
•
- Industrial products
▪ These are products purchased for further processing or use in
conducting business, usually classified as B2B products.
▪ This includes:
• Material and parts
o Raw materials, manufactured materials
• Capital items.
o Industrial products that aid in the buyer’s
production and operations
• Supplied and services.
o Operating supplies, repair and maintenance.
- Organizational
▪ Organization marketing
• Activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change
attitudes and behaviour of target consumers toward an
organization.
▪ Person marketing
• Activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change
attitudes and behaviour of target consumers toward a
particular people.
▪ Place marketing
• Activities undertaken to create, maintain, or change
attitudes and behaviour of target consumers toward
particular places.
• Individual product decisions
- Product attributes
▪ Product quality
• Quality level
o The level of quality that supports the product’s
positioning.
• Quality consistency
o Free from defects and delivery of a targeted level
of performance.
▪ Product design
▪ Product support services
• This includes additional services that a marketer can use
to make a product offering more attractive.
• Examples includes:
o Delivery and installation.
o Customer support.
• Product returns and replacements
• Warranty is a promise to replace or repair an item if the
item does not satisfy the terms of warranty.
• Guarantee is a promise to return the money paid to
purchase an item if the item doesn’t satisfy the terms of
the guarantee.
▪ experiences
- Packaging & Labeling
▪ Packaging
• This is defined as the activity of designing and producing
a container for a product.
• Packaging is viewed as the following:
o Communication tool.
o Branding opportunity.
o Differentiation.
• Key requirements for good packaging:
o It should be distinctive, so it is easily recognized
and standing out on shelves.
o It needs to be able to fit in the retail shelves.
• Proper packaging should promote product attributes and
create emotional connection with the customers.
▪ Labelling
• Labels represent a way of identifying a product/brand and
describing its attributes, with the focus of providing
information and promotion.
• Labels range from simple product tags to complex
graphics which forms part of the overall packaging.
• Three main objectives of labelling;
 o It should help customers identify and notice the
product.
o It should briefly describe and provide information
regarding the product.

• Product line and mix decisions

- a product line represents a group of products with similar function.
- For example, Colgate produces several lines of dental products
(toothpaste, dental floss, toothbrushes, mouthwash).
- Product line decisions often relate to the product mix, that is, the
product width, depth, length and consistency.
▪ Product line width
• is the number of product lines that a business has in its
product portfolio.
• For example is the way that Colgate has a product line for
toothpaste, toothbrushes, flosses and mouthwash.
▪ Product line depth
• is the number of variations that the company has within
the product lines.
• The Colgate toothpaste line has Colgate Maximum Cavity
Protection toothpaste, Herbal toothpaste, Total 12 Pro
Breath toothpaste and Triple Action toothpaste.
▪ Product line length
• is the total number of products a business has within all
product lines.
• In the Colgate example, this is the summation of all the
Colgate toothpaste, toothbrushes, flosses and mouthwash
variations.
▪ Product consistency
• speaks to how closely related the product lines are.
• For instance, it can be said that Colgate is consistent in
that it produces dental products.
• This would not be true if it were to start producing
clothing.
- Adjustments to a product line include a number of tactics like product
line stretching, shrinking and filling:
▪ Product line stretching
• Takes place when you add additional product to your
product line (or increase product length or depth).
• For example, Tiger Brands first introducing its Jungle Oats
snack bars product line, building on the success of the
Jungle Oats brand in the porridge category.
▪ Product line shrinking
• Involves removing product from a product line.
 • This is suitable when you want to be a market leader or
focus specifically on a segment.
▪ Product line filling
• This is when you are adding more products in the range
of a product line (or increasing product line depth).
• Done to increase market share, competitive advantage,
and profitability.
• For example, Coca Cola introducing Coke Lite, Coke Zero
and Coke Life.

-
• Key drivers of new product development
- Changing consumer preferences
- Existing technology becoming obsolete.
- Attempting to gain a competitive advantage.
• Product development process:
- Ideation generation
- Ideation screening
- Concept development.
- Marketing strategy
- Business analysis
- Product development
- Test marketing
 - Commercialization.
• The five stages of a product life cycle:
- Product development
▪ the business develops a new product.
▪ Due to the high investment, there are no profit or sales made.
- Introduction
▪ No profits as yet, but slow and steady growth of sales.
- Growth
▪ Sales start rising rapidly.
- Maturity
▪ Sales growth slows down.
▪ This lasts longer than other periods.
- Decline
▪ Sales fall rapidly.
▪ Some products are withdrawn, and others are pruned.

Price
• South Africa consumer landscape is different to many other parts of the world,
due to South Africa being one of the most unequal countries with regards to
wealth and distribution.
• This simply means that pricing may be different in South Africa
• The are several reasons pricing is important in marketing:
- Price is the most important variable for some products.
- Price is important for positioning and consumer decision making.
- This is the most flexible marketing mix decision.
• Price parameters comprise of the following:
- Price floor
▪ This is the lowest a product can be priced at.
▪ There won’t be any profits made under this price.
- Price ceiling
▪ This is the highest a price can reach.
▪ There won’t be any demand past this point.
• An appropriate pricing strategy should:
- Cover cost and gain profits.
- Meet and build demand.
- Support a business positioning strategy.
• Pricing strategies
- Due to the new economy and rapidly changing technology, traditional pricing
strategies must be adapted.
- Businesses implementing traditional pricing strategies, such as once-off
purchases and limited shelf life need to evolve and employ the latest pricing
strategies.
- There are several pricing tactics a business can utilize:
1. Subscription pricing
- Also known as the flat pricing model, where a product or service is
offered at a fixed price, regardless of usage or features.
- This this pricing strategy could use a periodical payment model,
where customers pay monthly, weekly, or yearly.
- Famous in the gaming industry.
2. Free-to-Play (F2P) pricing
- This represents a pricing model where the product or service is
offered for free, but includes in-game purchases, freemium, ads,
subscription services.
- This is also commonly employed in the gaming industry.
- The premium feature include:
o Extra lives
o Unlocking future levels
o Special items and themes.
- Comprise of three categories, such as F2P, freemium, and paymium.
3. Freemium Pricing
- This is a pricing strategy where a product or service is provided for
free.
- But additional features, services, or virtual goods are offered at a
premium.
- This model is commonly used in mobile application, digital services,
and software.
- Similar to market penetration pricing.
o Market penetration pricing:
▪ Involves setting a low price for a new product to attract
as many buyers as possible and establish a large market
share.
▪ The market needs to be highly price sensitive.
▪ Production and distribution costs must fall as sales
volume increases.
▪ The low price needs to keep competition out of market.
4. Paymium Pricing
- This pricing strategy includes both the freemium and paymium
models.
- Similar to market skimming
o Market skimming:
▪ This refers to setting a high price for a product or
service in order to skim for high revenues layer by layer
from consumers willing to pay more for the product or
service.
▪ As a result, the business produces less products but
achieves profitability.
 ▪ Competitors shouldn’t be able to easily enter the market
and undercut the price.
▪ There should be enough buyers willing to pay the high
price.
▪ The cost to produce the product should be low enough
not to cancel out the advantage of high price.
- New innovative e-commerce pricing strategies:
1. Pay-what-you-want
▪ This pricing strategy allows customers to choose the price they want
to pay.
▪ One of the price discrimination tactics.
▪ Effective when integrated with bundle pricing and optional pricing
to encourage higher price offers.
2. Name your price.
▪ This is a variation of Pay-what-you-want.
▪ Customers must name their price, but the price must exceed a
certain threshold.
▪ Suitable for product which are difficult to assess value.
▪ Common in travel industry.
3. Personalized pricing.
▪ Adjust and customizes product prices based on a customer-to-
customer basis.
▪ Suitable for use with repeat customers.
▪ Represent dynamic pricing.
4. Sympathetic pricing – represents a pricing strategy where business set
prices in a way that demonstrates empathy for their customers financial
situation.
▪ Painkiller pricing
o Pricing aimed at alleviating lifestyle pain points.
o For example, a pub offering discounts to customers who get
parking ticket outside their pub.
▪ Compassionate pricing
▪ Purposeful pricing
▪ Name you price pricing
• Major pricing strategies:
- Cost-based pricing
▪ Involves setting a price based on the costs involved in
producing, distributing, and selling a product or service.
▪ This is usually determined by adding markup to the cost to
ensure profit margin.
▪ For example, A small bakery determines that the cost of
ingredients, labor, and overhead to make a cake is $20. They
decide to add a 50% markup to cover their costs and make a
 profit. Therefore, the selling price of the cake would be $30 ($20
cost + $10 markup).
▪ Types of cost-based pricing:
• Cost-plus pricing
o Calculated unit cost of product and adds markup
to determine price.
• Break-even pricing
o Setting price so you’re able to break even.
• Target profit pricing
o Setting price to reach a specified goal given
predicted sales.
- Competitor-based pricing
▪ Setting price based on competition leader in the industry.
▪ The business may price their offering at a similar, higher, or
lower level compared to competitors.
▪ For example, anew smartphone manufacturer enters the market
and decides to price their latest model at a slightly lower price
than their main competitors' similar models. They set the price at
$699, while competitors are selling similar phones for $799.
▪ Another example, there is a soap on supermarket shelves at R5
and R15, so you set your price at R10.
▪ Helps in maintaining competitiveness in the market.
▪ Ignores the unique value proposition of the business.
- Value-based pricing
▪ Setting prices based on the consumers perceived value of the
product or service.
▪ The price is determined by the benefits, outcomes, and value
that the customer receives from using the product or service.
▪ A luxury watch brand prices its new limited-edition watch at
$10,000. Despite similar manufacturing costs to their other
models, the brand justifies the high price based on the
exclusivity.
• New product pricing strategies:
- Marketing skimming pricing
▪ Setting a high price for a new product to skim maximum
revenues layer by layer from segments willing to pay the high
price.
▪ The firm makes fewer but more profitable sales.
▪ Products high quality must support its higher prices and there
must be enough people willing to purchase the product at its
initial price.
- Marketing penetration pricing
 ▪ Involves setting a low price for a new product to attract as many
buyers as possible and establish a large market share.
▪ The market needs to be highly price sensitive.
▪ Production and distribution costs must fall as sales volume
increases.
▪ The low price needs to keep competition out of market.
• Product mix strategies:
- Product line pricing
▪ Setting the price steps between various products in a product
line based on cost differences based on their features, benefits,
and target market.

▪
- Optional product pricing
▪ product is sold at a standard price, and additional features or
accessories are offered separately.
▪ For example, a car manufacturer sells a standard model vehicle
but offers optional features like a sunroof, premium sound
system at additional costs.
- Captive product pricing
▪ Setting a low price or even at a loss but charges a premium for
the complementary or consumable products that are necessary
for the primary product to function effectively.
▪ For example, electric toothbrushes are priced competitively, but
replacement toothbrush heads are sold at a higher price.
▪ Another example, a coffee machine is also prices competitively,
and the coffee pods that come that are needed to are priced at a
higher price.
- By-product pricing
- Product bundle pricing
▪ Combining several products and offering a bundle at a reduced
price.
▪ This promotes the sale of products that customers may not
otherwise buy.
▪ For example, a box meal from KFC.
• Price adjustment strategy:
 - Discount pricing
▪ A straight reduction in price on purchases during a stated period
of time, focused on a more ongoing basis.
▪ Discount pricing is more of a long-term strategy where prices
are consistently lower than the regular price.
▪ For example, loyalty program discounts and bulk purchases
discounts.
- Promotional pricing
▪ Temporarily setting price for products below the list price, used
as part of a promotional campaign to create awareness, and
stimulate sales for a specific period.
▪ This is done in order to boost sales.
▪ In other words, this is typically temporary and is designed to
drive short-term sales.
▪ For example, buy one get one free promotion and the flash sale
promotion.
- Segmented pricing
▪ Selling a product at two or more prices, where the difference in
prices is not based on differences in costs.
▪ Commonly called dynamic or discriminatory pricing.
▪ Based on the following:
• Customer-segment
o For example, student discounts and gender
discrimination in insurance.
• Location
o For example, stadium ticket (depending on the
view), and uber fares.
• Time
o For example, early bird or special events (birthday),
and uber fares.
• Price elasticity
- Price elasticity refers to how sensitive demand is to changes in price.
- Price inelastic
▪ Demand changes very little to price change.
▪ For example, airline ticket price, luxury handbag, a cancer drug.
- Price elastic
▪ Demand changes significantly with a small change in price.
▪ In other words, customers are highly responsive to price
changes.
• Process of setting price:
- Select pricing objective.
▪ Survival
▪ Profit
 ▪ Return on Investment (ROI)
▪ Market share
▪ Cash flow
- Identify target market’s evaluation of price and WTP.
- Determine demand.
▪ Demand elastic.
▪ Demand inelastic.
- Analyse competitor’s prices.
▪ Competitor’s positioning
- Select pricing policy.

Place (Distribution)

• Place refers to the distribution and physical availability of the product or

where a product is sold and how it gets there.
• The purpose is to ensure the right products and services are available in the
right quantities at the right place, where and when the customers want them.
• Marketing channels and supply chain management.
- Marketing channels are a set of interdependent organizations that help
make a product or service available for use or consumption by the
consumers.
- Supply chain refers to the group of participants responsible for
manufacturing and delivering the product to the sales floor.

- The main focus for the marketer is the downstream supply chain.
- The downstream supply chain refers to the activities and processes
involved in delivering the final product from the manufacturer to the
end customer.
- The supply chain network is a collaboration among participants
responsible for supplying, manufacturing, warehousing, distributing,
 and serving customers, all aimed at improving the performance of the
entire system.
- Marketing channels (distribution channels)
▪ Interdependent organisations that make a product or service
available.
▪ In other words, a distribution channel is a series of firms or
individuals who participate in the flow of products and services
from the producer to the final consumer.
▪ The chosen channel structure should:
• Enhance customer satisfaction.
• Support the marketing objectives of each participant.
• Distribute the product efficiently by minimizing
distribution costs.
▪ Channel intermediaries:
• Retailer
o The business involved in selling the product and
service directly to the final consumer.
o Showroom
▪ Consumers view products in store, yet still
purchase online.
o Webroom
▪ Consumers browse products online, yet still
purchase in store.
o Classification:
▪ By amount of service offered
• Self-service
o Pick n Pay.
• Limited service
o Incredible connection.
• Full service
o Louis Vuitton
▪ By product line
• Specialty stores (bookstores).
• Department stores.
• Supermarkets.
• Spaza
• Convenience store
• Superstore
▪ By relative prices
• Discount stores (Game)
• Off-price retailers
• Wholesaler
 o Independently owned businesses that take
ownership of goods, assume risk associated with
ownership, and sell products to retailers.
• Distributor
o an entity that buys noncompeting products or
product lines, warehouses them, and resells them
to retailers or direct to the customers.
• Agent
o Acts as an intermediary between the seller offering
a product or service and a potential buyer.
▪ Types of channel intermediaries:
• Conventional system
o Represents one or more independent
manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer.
o Each is a separate business seeking to maximise its
own profits, even at the expense of the system as a
whole.
• Horizontal system
o A horizontal marketing system refers to two or
more organisations at the same level join together
for marketing purposes to capitalize on a new
opportunity.
o Businesses might join forces with competitors or
non-competitors.
o They might work with each other on a temporary
or long-term basis.
• Multi-channel system
o This is when a single firm sets up two or more
marketing channels to reach one or more
customer segments.

o
 • Vertical marketing system
o Consists of manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailers
acting as a unified system.
o This system can be dominated by the
manufacturer, the wholesaler, or the retailer
because one channel member can own others.
o The types include:
▪ Corporate VMS
▪ Contractual VMS
▪ Administered VMS
• Marketing Logistics
- The planning, implementing and controlling of physical flow of
materials, goods, and information.

-
- Major logistics functions:
▪ Warehousing
• Storage warehouse
• Distribution center
▪ Inventory management
• Balance between FIFO and LIFO
• Just in time inventory management
o strategy used by businesses to optimize inventory
levels by receiving goods only as they are needed
in the production process, rather than storing large
quantities of inventory
▪ Transportation
• Outsource or own transportation.
Promotion (Integrated marketing communication)
• Marketing communication
- Marketing communication refers to the sharing of information between
the organization and the target audience, as well as the other members
of the distribution channel.
- This is also known as the promotional mix is a term used to describe
the tools and techniques used to communicate with a target market.
- The purpose of marketing communication is to:
 ▪ Inform and make consumers aware of an organisation’s product
and services.
▪ Persuade existing and potential consumers to purchase and
repurchase the product or service.
▪ Reinforce experience.
▪ Differentiate an offering.
- Brand touch points
- The marketing communication process
• Integrated marketing communications (IMC)
- IMC is a strategic blending of advertising, public relations, and other
marketing tactics to grab consumers attention and build a strong brand
aligned to the core brand positioning.
- Advertising
▪ An advertisement refers to a paid non-personal presentation
and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified
sponsor.
▪ Advertisements usually make use of the mass media to convey
their message to a large target audience.
▪ For example, brochures, business cards, booklets, or websites.
▪ Benefits:
• Cost-effective reach.
• Larger target audience reach.
• Create awareness.
• Differentiate the brand from the competitor.
- Sales promotion
▪ Is a short-term tangible incentive given to consumers and other
channel members to stimulate immediate demand and sales.
▪ Types of promotion:
• Price reduction
• Extra product
• Free samples
▪ This is done for several reasons, such as countering competitive
offers, getting rid of stock, and building customer databases.
▪ Push strategy
• This represents a trade-oriented sales promotion.
• Uses incentives to motivate the buying and reselling of
products.
• Targeted towards marketing intermediaries such as
wholesalers, distributors, and retailers.
• For example, this includes trade allowances, buy-back
guarantees, dealer contests, and cooperative advertising.
▪ Pull strategy
• This refers to the consumer-oriented sales promotion.
 • Uses incentives to motivate end users to buy a branded
product and as a result force retailers to stock that brand.
• For example, this includes coupons, discounts, rebates,
contests, and free samples.
- Public relations
▪ Covers a wide range of activities that are designed to influence
both public opinion and specifically the opinion of the
stakeholders.
▪ The purpose of PR is to create a goodwill and understanding
between an organization and its stakeholders.
- Personal selling
▪ This is a form of person-to-person communication in which a
seller attempts to assist or persuade prospective buyers to
purchase the product or service.
▪ This is prevalent in organization such as motor vehicle
dealerships and insurance organizations.
▪ Personal selling is important in B2B product categories, where
expensive goods and services are sold.
▪ Personal selling process:
• Generate and qualify leads.
• Make sales calls.
• Identify and respond to objections.
• Close the sale.
• Follow up to build and maintain the customer
relationship.
- Direct marketing
▪ Direct marketing communicates directly with consumers to
generate a response or transaction.
▪ It involves personalized and targeted marketing efforts designed
to reach specific individuals or groups.
▪ For example, direct marketing utilizes direct mail and print
media.
▪ Benefits include:
• Focused and targeted communication.
• Allows personalization
•

South African Consumer Landscape

• Learning objectives:
o Understand the key challenges affecting South African
consumers.
o Explore the demographic landscape of South Africa.
o Examine the dual economy and inequality factors in
South Africa.
o Identify and differentiate common consumer segments
in South Africa.
o Evaluate the financial strain experienced by many South
African households.

• South African consumer landscape:

o Four challenges (NEET) affecting South African consumers:
- The low growth traps.
• South Africa has experienced persistently low economic
growth rates, which hinder income growth and job
creation.
• Low growth rates can lead to stagnation in living
standards, limited opportunities for advancement, and
reduced consumer spending power.
- Unemployment
• High levels of unemployment, particularly among youth
and historically disadvantaged groups.
• Unemployed individuals struggle to generate income,
leading to financial insecurity, poverty, and limited access
to basic necessities.
• These groups can be classified as NEETs, representing Not
in, Employment, Education, or Training.
- Education deficits
• Many individuals lack access to quality education, leading
to limited employment prospects, lower earning potential,
and reduced consumer confidence.
- The skills deficits
• The mismatch between available skills and market
demand hampers economic growth and job creation.
• Consumers with inadequate skills may struggle to secure
meaningful employment or advance in their careers,
impacting their purchasing power.
o Basic demographics:
 - With an estimated population of around 61 million, South Africa
is home to a diverse demographic landscape.
- More than half of this population resides in just three provinces:
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and the Western Cape.
- South Africa faces significant income inequality, ranking among
the highest globally.
- The disparities between the rich and poor households, shapes
consumer behavior and purchasing power across the country.
- Effective segmentation strategies based on demographics
include:
• Income level
• Education
• Occupation
• Location
• lifestyle preferences
- Common consumer segments in South Africa include:
• Working poor
• Working class
• Middle class
• Upper-middle class
• Affluent consumers.
o The inequality factor:
- South Africa remains a dual economy with one of the highest
inequality rates in the world.
- With an estimated consumption expenditure Gini coefficient of
0.63.
- South Africa can further be considered as having two different
but connected economies.
- Where the first economy is comprised of formal sector workers
and self-employed individuals and the second economy
includes, informal sector & self-employed, searching
unemployed, and unemployed and not economically active.
• Insiders
o Highly skilled
o Highly educated
• Outsiders
o Grant dependent
o Low skilled
o Low level of education
- Most South Africans households are financially stretched, due to
surviving on income less than R8000.
- As a result, many are forced to ration food and skip meals.
• The importance of consumer behaviour
o Consumer behaviour represents the behaviour displayed when
searching for, purchasing, consuming/using, evaluating, and disposing
of product or service from consumers.
o Only when the consumer is understood can they be influenced by
marketing strategies.
• The five consumer segments:

The Poor
• The poor segment includes everyone living in households earning less than R3500 pe

• Around 28% of the population, which is a third of all South Africans and can be defin
poor.

• Those who are working typically work in the informal sector where wages are low, as
only contributing only account for 7% of all SA consumer spending.
• Due to the overreliance on grants and subsidies, much of the spending by this segme
occurs at month end.
• The majority of poor household resides in Gauteng than any other provinces.
• Of those working, most are employed in low-skilled positions.

o Poor
▪ The poor segment includes everyone living in households
earning less than R3500 per month.
▪ Around 28% of the population, which is a third of all South
Africans and can be defined as poor.
▪ Those who are working typically work in the informal sector
where wages are low, as a result only contributing only account
for 7% of all SA consumer spending.
 ▪ Due to the overreliance on grants and subsidies, much of the
spending by this segment occurs at month end.
▪ The majority of poor household resides in Gauteng than any
other provinces.
▪ Of those working, most are employed in low-skilled positions.

o Working poor
▪ The working poor group comprises those South Africans living in
households earning R3500-R8000 per month.
▪ This group constitutes the biggest consumer segment with over
31% of the population and only responsible for less than 15% of
all consumer spending.
▪ Despite earning more than the poor, the working poor segment
is still under immense financial pressure.
▪ This results in price scrutiny and carefully managed budgets.

o Working class
▪ The working class is made up of households earning R8000-
R22000 per month.
▪ They account for about 24% of the population and a quarter of
all consumer spending.
▪ With unemployment being relatively low in this consumer
segment, with nearly 40% of those working in positions that
require a high level of skill.
o Middle class
 ▪ The middle-class group includes households earning R22000-
R40000 per month.
▪ Although this group is smaller than the working poor segment,
their combined spending power is greater.
▪ A characteristic of this group, compared with the poorer
segments, is that they are likely to possess a high level of
education.
▪ Over half of households contain an adult with a tertiary
qualification.
▪ Almost 50% of the class is made up of a mixture of other races.
▪ As a result of the ability to afford a healthy lifestyle, they have
more freedom of choice and flexibility in terms of where they
shop and the entertainment opportunities available to them.

o Upper-middle class
▪ The upper-middle class group comprises households earning
R40000-R75000 per month.
▪ This segment is equivalent to around 4% of all South African
households.
▪ The upper-middle class exposes the huge disparities in income
inequality, with an average household income of over R60000.
▪ This consumer segment account for nearly a quarter of all
consumer spending power.
▪ However, over half of this group is white individuals and nearly
70% of households include at least one adult who has a tertiary
qualification.
▪ Most of the individuals in this segment are more focused on
following their passion instead of chasing success.

• The five-step consumer decision making process:

o The five-step purchase decision making process

▪ Step 1 - need recognition and problem awareness
▪ During this stage, it is assumed the consumer has an
unfulfilled need
▪ Consumers can be aware of this through several trigger,
such as advertising
▪ Step 2 - information search
▪ During this stage, consumers search for information that
will assist them in finding the most suitable option to
satisfy their need
▪ The information search can be derived internally (derived
from consumers existing knowledge) or externally
(information is collected from advertising and
commercials and friends)
▪ Step 3 - evaluation of alternatives
 ▪ During this stage, considerations are made about the
information collected during the searching stage and the
evaluations of the alternatives that are available
▪ Step 4 - purchase decision
▪ The consumer decision making process is when the
consumer decides whether or not to purchase the product
or service
▪ Step 5 - post-purchase evaluation
▪ During this stage, consumers usually doubt their
purchases, in particular when they have spent large sums
of money
▪ This process of doubt is called cognitive dissonance

o The five factors driving consumer behaviour and purchase decisions

o Personal factors
▪ This include the demographic (age, occupation, economic
status, and personality) and and lifestyle
o Social factors
▪ This refers to the people the consumer interacts with
directly or indirectly who influence their choice
▪ This includes family, culture , and friends
o Psychological factors
▪ These refer to the internal factors affecting a consumer's
decision making and behaviour.
▪ These include, perception, motivation, learning,
personality.
o Situational factors
▪ These factors include things like the COVID-19 pandemic
and the lockdown restrictions
o Marketing mix
▪ These include the price, product, place, and promotion

Guest Lecture: Alex Duncan and Martin Neethling

▪ The emphasis on empowering customers through a great product or service

highlights the value of building strong relationships with users and delivering
solutions that address their needs effectively.
▪ Product-market fit:
o This represents when a product or service meets the needs and wants
of a target market.
o In other words, this refers to finding enough people in the market
willing to buy your product or service you’re selling.
o Is all about finding a solution that solves a consumer problem.
▪ The four key steps in finding product-market fit:
o Solving a problem
 - in other words, the solution should address crucial pain points
and offer tangible benefits.
o Understanding users
- there’s a need to understand real motivations of users and how
the product should be tailored to fit their requirements
(empathy).
- This can be done by using a user persona model, where the
user’s motivations and aspirations are outlined.
- This emphasizes the importance of understanding what the
users need.
• This can be done through immersions, interviews, and
questionnaires.
- Building empathy with customers and conducting thorough
research are essential for designing products that resonate with
target audiences and drive engagement.
-
o Designing a solution
- Sometimes it’s useful to pull inspirations from other competitors.
- All the user want is the product they want to work seamlessly
and without errors.
- This is the process where we ideate and create prototypes for
the product.
- The prioritization of features based on impact and ease reflects
the need for efficient resource allocation and effective project
management in product development, enabling teams to focus
on high-impact initiatives that deliver significant value to users.
-
▪ the four principles to building a product:
o ruthless focus
- be concise and clear about what the product is and is not.
o Appreciate and build on consumer feedback.
o Optimize for less errors.
- This simply means the product has to work.
- Monitor regularly.
- Give users possible solutions to solving the potential problems
with the product/service or tell the users why the error occurred.
o Understanding buyers

▪ Comparative advertising
o Comparative advertising is not inherently illegal, but it must comply
with regulations to ensure fairness and accuracy.
o Misleading or deceptive comparative advertising can harm consumers
and unfairly disadvantage competitors.
 o Therefore, regulatory bodies monitor ads to ensure they meet
standards of truthfulness, accuracy, and fairness.
▪ Product line and branding
o Product development is driven by what the competitor is doing.
o Its important to follow and analyse what the market leader is doing.
o Its important to keep product ranges as tight as possible in order to
occupany the “share of shelf”.
o There is always a question of how attractive a new category could be or
does a business have a right to win (a brand ability to compete
effectively and achieve success in a market).
o In order to resonate with consumers, a product should be correctly
priced, readily available, and supported sufficiently.
o To influence consumer behavior regarding a new product, a business
should introduce it through slight incremental changes.
o This approach mitigates the risk of losing market share that could occur
with a significant change.
o Product intrinsic
- Product intrinsic are the inherent qualities and features of a
product that contribute to its value and appeal, including design,
quality, performance, and unique features.