Question

How perception can enhance strategies for retailing, branding, advertising and packaging?

Answer 1

Perception is understanding or interpreting something in a specific way. In other words, perception means the way people think or regard about something. It is the impression in the minds of the people. Perception is based on one’s knowledge, belief and experience about the world. Perception plays a critical role in retailing, branding, advertising and packaging.

Retailing- The retailing industry at present witnesses a boom in the industry. Due to globalization, liberalization and privatization, consumers are now viewing the retailing industry differently from the past. The socio-economic factors have changed the perception the customers view retailing in the positive direction. Marketers use different strategies to make the best use of consumer’s perception towards retailing. The strategies are enhanced by focusing on removing the pre-conceived notions that people still have about retailing. Strategies are developed to make customers perceive retailing in the positive trend which increases the customer purchases in the retail outlets. For example, Wal-Mart provides unique offers and discounts and encourages customers to buy the products from the store. The strategy of Wal-Mart is low cost pricing thus changing the customer’s perception that retailing is a luxury lifestyle.

Branding- Branding is the process of creating an image in the minds of the people. Creating good perception of the product or service is the objective of brand perception. The brand perception is owned by the consumers. Marketers through surveys and observations understand the consumer’s perception about the brand and then develop strategies that are more efficient to create a positive brand image in the minds of the prospective customers. For example, Diet Coke was considered as harmful to the consumer’s health. However, marketers understood this perception and changed the ingredient in the diet Coke and created a positive perception of the branding in the minds of the people.

Advertising- Advertising is important for any product or service to make people aware of the brand among the plethora of brands. The first step that a marketer takes is to identify the consumer’s perception on the particular product or brand through market research. Once the consumer’s perceptions are identified, effective strategies are developed to create a powerful advertising campaign so that it hits hard in the mind of the people in a positive way. For example, Flipcart’s delivery service was not up to the mark and the company understood this perception as the sales became to decline. Customers switched to Amazon. Flipcart understood this negative perception and created advertising campaigns focusing on improved logistics and delivery of the products.

Packaging- Sometimes customers have a negative impact on the packaging of the product due to bad experiences. This negative perception is usually observed by the organizations through customer feedback, reviews, complaints, etc. These perceptions are better understood by the marketers through more in-depth customer surveys and analysis. Then, the marketer takes measures to change this perception by drafting effective marketing strategies. For example, any customer who is not satisfied with the packaging of Amazon products and complaints the same to the company, then Amazon takes effective measures or creates strategies to change this negative perception by providing them good packaging.