Question

Part I:  How have you noticed marketing has changed over time? Please use examples.

Part II: What are some strategies that marketers can use to determine price? Which method do you think is the most useful? Why?

Answer 1

1. Marketing has definitely changed a lot over a period of time starting with the ancient times where people just used to communicate via word of mouth and after using the products and services of the company. There were posters, billboards and magazines used or marketing, this was followed by radio, TV, telephones, later on came mobile phones, computers, desktop, etc. Initially there were no online retailers and marketers, however after the digital market coming in picture we now see everything being sold online, you need not go to the market personally to buy a product you can receive it all at home. Examples are online giants like Amazon, Ebay, etc. The strategy that most people use for marketing is to know the consumers interest first before selling them any product. Once they know the interest you can get a variety of choices to select from. Take an example of club factory, it asks you for all your likes, your gender, country, etc once you have made your choice it shows you the best products. Many a times people just fall prey to marketing and advertisements and buy products that they really do not need. Companies analyse the customers very well before offering them any products, a proper investigation and research is done, various strategies like promotional mix are used. Given all these facts one can truly say that marketing and advertisements have gone a long way from where it started.

2. There are various pricing strategies that marketers use t determine their price, given below are few of them:

a. Premium Pricing- Premium pricing is mostly used by companies in their initial days when the product is newly launched. This method is ideal for small businesses that sell unique goods.

b. Penetration Strategy- Penetration strategy is one wherein the companies charge low price in the beginning and then increase the pricing once the consumers are attracted towards it.

c. Economy Pricing- This pricing strategy is generally used by large companies like Walmart and Target where they cut down on the marketing costs so that the consumers can purchase the products at a much cheaper rate.

d. Bundle Pricing- Bundle pricing is used by marketers to sell multiple products to consumers in a bundle at a cheaper rate that what they would have got if they were to purchase the products individually.

Out of these strategies the most effective ones are the Penetration strategy that a company should use when it has just entered the market and then continue with the Economy Pricing and cut down on advertisements once the consumers are loyal to them and keep purchasing their products.