Definition of Retail Marketing Essay

Retail is the activity of selling goods direct to the public, usually in small quantities. Retail is the sale of goods and services from individuals or businesses to the end-user. Retailers are part of an integrated system called the supply chain. A retailer purchases goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers directly or through a wholesale, and then sells smaller quantities to the consumer for a profit. Retailing can be done in either fixed locations like stores or markets, door-to-door or by delivery. Retailing includes subordinated services, such as delivery. Retail marketing is comprised of the activities related to selling products directly to consumers through channels such as stores, malls, kiosks, vending machines or other fixed locations, according to the Free Dictionary. In contrast, direct marketing to consumers attempts to complete a sale through phone, mail or website sales. The successful implementation of the components of the traditional marketing mix (product, place, price and promotion) are essential for success in retail marketing. The savvy marketer must have a thorough understanding of his or her customers to answer the questions that are implied by each of the 4 P’s. Concept of Retail Marketing Retail marketing depends on learning what customers need and want in the marketplace. The central idea behind retail marketing is ensuring that a company creates products a customer needs or wants, products the customer is willing to pay to own. Some companies have retail marketing departments within their office while others outsource marketers to research and market their product. Using diverse approaches to studying consumer behavior, marketers inventing creative ways to attract shoppers to a product. Corporate Marketing Business marketing is the practice of individuals or organizations, such as commercial businesses, governments and institutions, facilitating the sale of their products or services to other companies or organizations that either resell them, use them as components in products or services they offer, or use them to support their operations. Also known as industrial marketing, business marketing is sometimes referred to as business-to-business marketing, or B2B marketing, for short. Corporate marketing in concerned with the position of the company within the wider market and can involve operations like competitive analysis or monitoring of market dynamics and environmental shifts. Corporate marketing is not concerned with selling products; instead, it seeks to create brand awareness and foster good relations with businesses partners, current or potential investors, retailers, and distributors. Although it is defined as marketing, this function is often performed by professionals from other fields, such as finance or PR. Strategic Marketing Strategic marketing is the endeavor of a business to differentiate itself positively from its competitors, using its strengths to satisfy customer needs in a given environment.The marketing strategy is devised by marketers but executed by other departments within the company, as it is actually logistics, product design, call centers and finance that have to implement the vision. For example, if the strategic marketing plan may call for a new product, the implementation will call for new research and development, new providers, and even new production facilities. The promotion Promotion is one of the market mix elements, and a term used frequently in marketing. The specification of five promotional mix or promotional plan. These elements are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity.[1] A promotional mix specifies how much attention to pay to each of the five subcategories, and how much money to budget for each. A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image. Fundamentally, however there are three basic objectives of promotion. These are:[2] 1. To present information to consumers as well as others. 2. To increase demand. 3. To differentiate a product. There are different ways to promote a product in different areas of media. Promoters use internet advertisement, special events, endorsements, and newspapers to advertise their product. Many times with the purchase of a product there is an incentive like discounts, free items, or a contest. This is to increase the sales of a given product. Generally, promotion is communicating with the public in an attempt to influence them toward buying your products and/or services. How does promotion differ from advertising? Promotion is the broader, all inclusive term. Advertising is just one specific action you could take to promote your product or service. Promotion, as a general term, includes all the ways available to make a product and/or service known to and purchased by customers and clients. The word promotion is also used specifically to refer to a particular activity that is intended to promote the business, product or service. A store might advertise that it’s having a big promotion on certain items, for instance, or a business person may refer to an ad as a promotion. Also Known As: Promo. Often confused with advertising or marketing. Examples: Contests and advertising are two examples of Promotion is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service. The razzmatazz, pace and creativity of some promotional activities are almost alien to normal business activities. The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often represents a sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an item. However, successful promotion increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger output. Though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive activity, it enables an organisation to develop and build up a succession of messages and can be extremely cost-effective. Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public’s perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people (for example, politicians and performing artists), goods and services, organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment. Publicity is the act of attracting the media attention and gaining visibility with the public, it necessarily needs the compliment of the media it cannot be done internally because it requires the attention of the publicist and it is the publicist that carries out publicity while PR is the strategic management function that helps an organization communicate, establish and maintain relation with the important audiences, It can be done internally without the use of media From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one component of marketing. The other elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and personal selling. Examples of promotional tactics incl ude: †¢ Art exhibitions  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ event sponsorship †¢ Arrange a speech or talk †¢ Make an analysis or prediction †¢ Conduct a poll or survey †¢ Issue a report †¢ Take a stand on a controversial subject †¢ Arrange for a testimonial †¢ Announce an appointment †¢ Invent then present an award †¢ Stage a debate †¢ Organize a tour of your business or projects †¢ Issue a commendation The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on evening TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting of pictures and videos to websites) are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media. Publicity draws on several key themes including birth, love, and death. These are of particular interest because they are themes in human lives which feature heavily throughout life. In television serials several couples have emerged during crucial ratings and important publicity times, as a way to make constant headlines. Also known as a publicity stunt, the pairings may or may not be according to the fact.