Marketing Distribution Issues

Marketing 1.

Under what conditions do organizations conduct a marketing audit? The conditions under which an organization may want to conduct a marketing audit include: (a) whenever a company needs to be reminded of what products and services it actually offers to the public—which can happen more frequently than one might realize, as there are typically many products and services that a firm will offer that it fails to monitor or keep track of effectively; (b) whenever a company needs to be reminded of marketing campaign objectives so that the campaign can be more effectively arranged; (c) whenever a company needs to know why some actions have worked and others have failed—learning lessons from the past is one of the best things a marketing audit can do for an organization; (d) whenever a company needs to identify where it is wasting resources and being inefficient—the marketing audit can reveal ways in which the company could save bundles of money by simply marketing products and services more effectively; and (e) whenever a company aims to re-energize a campaign and bring a burst of new spirit to the effort (Cook, 2016).

2.You are the market research director for a consumer product company. You have been asked to evaluate China as a potential market for your company’s products and begin a search of secondary data. What are types of information you would consider in assessing China? How would you find information on these issues? The first type of information I would consider when assessing China would be its cultural background.

As Hofstede (1984) notes, every country has its own set of cultural dimensions, and these must absolutely be considered by a business that is attempting to penetrate a foreign market or expand a product range in that market. Wang (2012) notes that Mattel stumbled mightily in China when it attempted to open its Barbie store there because it failed to consider the Chinese culture and how it differed from the American culture.

The Chinese simply were not interested in the American Barbie doll, which represented ideals of freedom, independence and individuality, as these ideals were counter to the ideals of duty, conformity and discipline that the Chinese promoted. Also, the dolls were too expensive and the Chinese could purchase knock-offs for much cheaper on the black market. Thus, the second type of information I would consider would be what other competitors are doing in the market.

Is there a competitor offering the same or similar product? What do consumers in China want in terms of product offerings? Obtaining this information could come by way of survey. A survey can provide a company with quantitative data to help it make decisions about what products to develop and how to market them in a foreign land. Another way to obtain information would be through customer interviews and through social media.

Social media can be one of the most effective ways to obtain data in today’s business world, as it enables companies to tracker user profiles, likes, dislikes, and engage in market segmentation for demographics, behavior, geography and psychometrics. All of these tools are helpful for obtaining information about the market and how the company could effectively market products for the Chinese marketplace. 3.You are the marketing manager for Oxymoron detergent and have been instructed to introduce this product into Argentina.

What six factors would you need to consider in determining the proper channel of distribution for the introduction of Oxymoron detergent? The six factors that I would need to consider in determining the proper channel of distribution for the introduction of Oxymoron detergent in Argentina would be the following C’s: · Cost—which refers to the costs of establishing channels of distribution, both direct and indirect costs.

· Capital—which refers to the amount of capital required to maintain the distribution channel, especially with respect to costs added to the product as a result of expenses accrued through problems or inefficiencies in the distribution network, which could harm the brand. · Control—which refers to the level of control that the company can have over the distribution channel; typically, the more control the company wields, the higher the expense.

· Coverage—which refers to the extent to which a local distribution network is able to reach the various markets in the country; for the company looking at distribution in Argentina, the channel’s coverage would be very important as the country’s cities are separated by mountainous regions, so figuring out how products will get to the maximum number of markets would be a crucial factor for the business. · Character—which refers to the trustworthiness.