Factors Influencing the Consumer Decision Making Process

Each buying decision you make involves an elaborate mental thought  process, a degree of active reasoning, though on the surface it may not always seem to be so. This may be because over a period of time you have taken certain buying decisions so many times  that they now seem to be made almost automatically but that is not true at all. Even your daily decision of buying a loaf of  bread involves the element of active reasoning as buying a new  sofa set for your drawing room. However, in the former case,  the extent and intensity of active reasoning may be much less as  compared to the latter case. In the case of bread, the only decision variables may be which brand, quantity and retail outlet. But in the case of buying a  sofa set the decision variables are far more in number. These may be: Ready-made or made Continue reading

4 Reasons Why Marketing is Important for Every Business

Managers face an endless challenge to create unique strategies that will enable them provide positional advantage in an effort to achieve superior financial or customer performance. A company’s pecuniary success largely depends upon prudent marketing efforts along with financial, operational, accounting and other business functions. Marketing is identified as focusing on strategies concerning the critical decision of market definition and market segmentation as well as the identification of potential bases for differentiation. Sometimes, people ask why marketing is important in the financial success of a company. The answer to this question is, assume you have a product to offer with excellent features, best quality and amazing packaging but no one knows about your product? There will be no demand in the market for your it, the company will make no sale and eventually no profit. Here comes the importance of marketing. The most important function of marketing, along with others, Continue reading

Importance of Customer Service Policies in Hospitality Industry

It is a matter of fact that in today’s world customer service has an important role in determining the profitability and the reputation of a business organization that operates in travel and tourism industry. It can surely be said that it is one of the major factors that provides a competitive advantage to a business organization whose management effectively implement various customer service policies in the workplace. The business leaders of the organizations like hotels, restaurants and membership clubs thus should stress on introducing various customer service policies in their organizations. in this regard it should be mentioned that not only business organizations operating under travel and tourism industry, but the managements of all types of business organizations should think about introducing effective customer service policies in the organizations so that their enterprises can experience better productivity along with increased reputation and profitability due to higher customer satisfaction level. In Continue reading

Global Branding – Issues, Challenges and Strategies

A global brand is the product or services that bring along their identity (brand) which is available in many nations and, though it may differ from one country to another, the localized versions have a common goal and a similar identity. In other words, global brands carry one brand name or logo together with it. A global brand can carry one name or logo and thus be recognized worldwide, however, the product may not be of the same standard at all. Global branding can be influenced by some the issues like social and culture, the economics of the country, and political condition in a country. Besides, a lot of the marketers in the world are facing the problem of customizing or standardize their products and services. Marketers tend to influence by major challenges before they went for global branding, at the same time, the marketers should also make decisions to Continue reading

Ethnocentrism in International Marketing

International marketing activities are interlinked with a firm’s corporate goals, objectives and strategy. The overall aims, objectives and strategy of a firm has a great impact on international marketing decisions e.g, whether to enter new uncertain markets and how maximum would be risk that the firm is ready to take or the level of control required over international operations. There is no denying in fact that a person’s self reference criterion (SRC) and an associated ethnocentrism are a two primary obstacles to success in international marketing. Self reference criteria is defined as an unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values, experiences and knowledge as a basis for decisions. Ethnocentrism is closely connected to self reference criterion. Ethnocentrism can be defined as the nations that one’s own culture or company knows best how to do things. Ethnocentrism has been seen particularly a problem in the American managers at the beginning of Continue reading

4 C’s of Contemporary Marketing Mix

The contemporary market has developed with the approach of more prominent customer-centric marketing conditions. Companies’ main focus is to work with consumers, identify their needs, and design products according to their needs. We can see a shift towards personalization, interactivity, and genuine, direct discourse with the client. These changes have made way for innovation, customization, and networking. These new methodologies permit marketers not only to build a relationship with the target group but also to recognize the constantly changing consumer behavior. Moreover, it has also enabled the markets to react quickly to their competitors and anticipate future market trends. Hence, all these developments have provoked the advancements of new theoretical approaches that deal with specific rather than general marketing issues and situations. It’s further feasible for companies to interact with and administer the consumer better with the help of digital platforms. Contemporary marketing incorporates the following marketing mix in the Continue reading