The world today has become very competitive such that management of organization has been advised to produce quality goods that can meet the needs and wants of the consumers. In order for organizations to remain in business and be competitive they should carry out extensive research about all important strategies that are beneficial to the organizations in general so that they can run their operations effectively.
Wal-Mart Company is a company that operates a large chain of departmental stores in America and its headquarters are in Arkansas United States of America. It was founded by Sam Walton in the year 1962 and later on listed in the New York Stock Exchange. It is the largest private employer while at the same time the fourth largest utility or commercial employer in the world and has 20% retail groceries and consumable businesses in the United States of America.
Even though the company is large it has often been constantly criticized by some community groups, women rights groups, grassroots organizations and labor unions for undertaking in tasks that are not within their scope of operation of the organization such as foreign product sourcing, low rates for the employees, health insurance schemes, non-union representation and conducting of illegal activities that have been significantly affecting the reputation of the company.Walmart company is in the retail industry as its sells its goods and services in the supermarkets, departmental stores and buys its products directly from the manufactures so as to save on the cost of producing goods and services in the market.
Impact of the marketing mix on the development of the organizations marketing strategy and tactics.
The four market mixes that are used to determine the framework that should be followed so as to ensure that strategic market objectives of a company reach the target market.Marketing mix refers to the elements that are used to determine how products will perform in the market. The marketing mix elements includes: price, product, place and promotion. The value of a good or service can be enhanced by either altering or the raising of elements in the marketing mix.
For instance one can increase the rate of promotion or desensitizing the price of a good or service according to the expectations of the company that is producing or manufacturing those goods and services. Marketing mix strategies tools helps an organization to determine the differences in performance that exists between the companies themselves and their competitors. Also helps the specialist to identify the factors that make a product or service to be unique so that it can perform well in the market.
Price
It’s also referred to as amount of money that is exchanged for products or services such as time, energy, psychology or attention. The price of a good or service can be determined by applying the following strategies within an organization such as, premium pricing that determines prices of goods and services that may be unique and where there are substantial competitive advantages against a product or service.
For example for luxurious goods such as cars, flights have prices that equally high to meet the need costs and targeted profit of a ompany.Penetration pricing is the strategy whereby prices of goods and services are set at a low price so that a company can gain a higher market share. Economy pricing refers to the strategy whereby the cost of producing certain goods and services is relative low so that customers can be in a position to buy those goods and services in the market. Supermarkets at times have economy brands for soap, spaghettis in order to increase the sales volume of the products in the market as they have a higher competitive advantage. It refers to the process of establishing prices of products including the discounts associated with them (Pascall, G. 2003).
Wal-Mart Company had its products set according to the company’s policy of issuing super-low prices that would ensure prices of products would be according tthe purchasing power of the consumers so as to maintain its profitability.It was noted that the growth of the company was attributed to the low prices and low inflation rates that existed within the country.
Place
It refers to the channels, distribution, intermediaries that are used to transport goods and services from one place to another.The elements used to facilitate the distribution of goods from one place to another are: personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct mail, trade fairs and exhibitions, advertising and sponsorship. Management of Wal-Mart Company changed the method of delivering its products to the consumers through shifting the value that was associated to the products by its collection from point of production to the point of sale.. Its cross-docking inventory and transportation services enable it to obtain the necessary good for its consumers at the required period of time.
Products
Product refers to the process of dealing specifically with the actual goods and services and later on dealing with the way they relate to the end users needs and wants. The scope of the product involves supporting elements such as warranties, guarantes and support. Products are tangible, physical entities that are bought and sold in the market.Walmart had its products displayed on the shelves and this brought about dramatic changes that lead to increased profits for an organization where more lucrative retail contracts were opened so as to ensure that all products could easily be displayed on the shelves hence the consumers could easily take the goods and services with ease.
Wal-Mart company had unique products that consumers were searching for as the diversity increased sales revenue for the organization. Its products were supplied to the company at low prices hence the management of the company was in a better position to sell the products at low prices to the consumers. The low priced goods and services contributed significantly to high sales revenue for the company that contributed to the company’s ability to compete effectively with its competitors in the market (Pascal, G. 2003).
According to the Chief Executive Officer Mr. Raul Razquez stated that he ensure that the on integration of the online and in-store capabilities and later on expansion of its sites overall merchandise assortment and product information would be implemented in order to enhance effective delivery of services to the customers. It was noted that the expertise of the employees would lead to building of the strong, comprehensive multi experience for their customers therefore would be in a position to meet their needs and wants.
Walmarts third phase of its marketing plan was to sell and market furniture stores that would describe attributes of its products or services in greater detail. Management of the company stated that it would follow the product life cycle as well as factors that impact on its movement so that quality goods and services would be effectively implemented within the organization.
Promotion
The management of the organizations uses the following methods so as to inform the public about the existence of a product in the market; s ability to provide sales promotion, advertising and public relations. Placement or distribution refers to the means and the ways in which products of a company reaches the customers using methods such as point of sale, placement or retailing. It’s also the channel through which products or services are sold in the market for example through online or by retail that form the geographical region or industry also the environment in which products are sold in the market.Walmarts management stated that it would use the promotional tactics as low-price image, consumer research and store planning that would focus on improving on the performance of the company.
Chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Company Mr. Lee Scott stated that the company would remain competitive if it provided the right product at right place and price to the customers. It was noted that company’s problem was that its brand were cheap, mean and predatory at times would not meet the needs of their customers at the required period of time. Marketing strategy refers to the process that a firm follows to identify the desirable market segments that are appropriate for an organization and the process of developing marketing mixes that lead to the proper development of the segments.
Wal-Mart’s success was attributed by its concentration on single-business strategy. Strategy enabled it to be successful over the last three decades as it did not rely on diversification that would sustain its growth and competitive advantage.
It had been setting low prices, service and smiles for all the leading marketing strategies in order to increase the sales revenue or the organization. Although it risked on concentrating on a single type of business as its failure would lead to losses due to lack of diversification, it had the most sophisticated retailer components such as the information systems that contributed to the effective accomplishment of its goals and objectives.
Its marketing strategy would be to provide low-cost consumer good that would be represented by the company’s advertising slogan as ‘everyday low prices ‘.Although was not possible to provide goods to all consumer the Chief Executive Officer stated that the first objective of any marketing strategy would be to determine its target market, segment of the market that would determine the position the business would take.
The Chief Executive Officer of Wal-Mart stated three marketing mixes would be applied within the organization such as :implementation of a new employee program that would have fair salaries and health care employees, benefit would ensure public relations spinning about employee commitment, changes in culture, processes and accounting would be undertaken effectively.The strategies would also involve paying fair price for quality goods, although it was observed that some clients did not do any business since they had heard too many terror stories about the company therefore would not effectively implement a supplier review program within the organization (Pascal, G. 2003).
It is important for the management of organization to carry out extensive research work about the issues that can bring about development within an organization. In the marketing that consists of four major elements of marketing mix that is the product,price,promotion and place, inadequacy of each of elements cannot lead to the profitability of the company therefore management of organization should incorporate all these elements so as to facilitate to the profitability of the company.
References
Benady, A. and Simonian, H. (2005). Nestlé’s new flavor of strategy: Global Selling: The World’s Largest Food Company Has Put Marketing at the Heart of Its Plans For Future Growth. Financial Times 13.
Dev, C. S. And Schultz, D. E (2007). “In the Mix: A Customer-Focused Approach Can Bring The Current Marketing Mix into the 21st Century”. Marketing Management v.14 n.1.
Pascal, G. (2003). It’s a Wal-Mart world, and Boeing isn’t immune Phoenix Business Journal. Web.
Marketing teacher (2000). Pricing Strategies. Web.
Pricing Strategies. Web.
Wal-Mart Doesn’t Like Marketing (Shocking!) There’s good reason why Wal-Mart is in the blog category. Web.