If you or your friends or family members are doing MBA or masters in commerce or graduation in management or commerce or in economics, then you will be pleased to hear that we have started a new blog called http://managementation.com/. The blog will be very very useful for the management students.

The post Management articles through managementation.com first appeared on Winner Science.

Whatever the problem is it has to go through research process. The marketing research process has stages to guide the researcher from start to finish. It has seven stages.

1.)    Problem formulation: it involves designing research problem and research objectives. In this stage researcher decides what information is to be collected. It is of three types;

a) Exploratory research: its aim is to collect the preliminary information. That helps in defining the problem.

b) Descriptive research: its aim is to describe the marketing problem.

c) Casual research: its aim at testing hypothesis about the cause and effect relationship.

2.) Selection of research methodology: selection of research methodology depends upon the nature of research problem, available existing knowledge and information.

3.) Developing research design: it is the blueprint or the framework of the project. The choice of research design depends upon the extent of data required, cost, benefit of research, urgency of work, time available.

4.) Selection of data collection techniques: data is the raw material used by the researcher to convert it into information. The data can be collected either through primary sources or through secondary sources.

5.) Actual collection of data: it involves technique or tools. For this purpose some companies use in house researchers and some outside consultants or both. All this depends upon the time, budget and accuracy.

6.) Analysis and interpretation of data: the data collected is raw and not useful unless statistical tools are applied upon it. The techniques can be decided in advance. It can be done with the help of various statistical packages.

7.) Preparation of research project: it is the last step of marketing research process. It involves the final findings, recommendations in an accurate, clear, concise and complete form.

Thus, all these stages of marketing research help the researcher in the research.

The post 7 stages of Marketing research process first appeared on Winner Science.

Marketing research is a systematic design, collection, analyses and reporting of the data related to marketing goods and services. Marketing research searches specific market problem and make the decision about a particular course of action.

Importance of marketing research:

• It helps the in every aspect of marketing management.
• It helps in knowing the market potential.
• It is done before the product is launched or on a regular basis to keep in the market.
• It helps in knowing the strength and weakness of the company.

Major marketing research agencies in India:

• Operational research group
• Marketing and research group
• Indian marketing research bureau

The post Marketing research and its importance first appeared on Winner Science.

1.) Cost based pricing: this type of pricing strategies uses break even concept which means the point where the total cost = total revenue. Profit will be zero at break even point. At level where the total revenue > total cost there is profit and where total revenue< total cost there is loss.

2.) Demand based pricing: it is of two types;

a) Skimming pricing: it means skim the market initially with high price and high profit, later settle down for the lower price. It means skim the cream initially from the market.

b) Penetration pricing: it seeks to achieve high sale with low price. It is generally used when there are non luxury goods.

3.) Competition oriented pricing: in a competitive market the companies generally opt for this pricing strategy. It has three types.

a) Premium pricing: it means price above the competitor’s price.

b) Discount pricing: it means price below the competitor’s price.

c) Parity pricing: it means price equals to the competitor’s price.

4.) Value pricing: this method is used when the objective is not to recover the cost of the product but to judge the value of the product in the eyes of the customer. Like homeshop 18.

5.) Product line pricing: in this case the company need not fix the price for each product rather they fix the price for the entire product line which results in optimal sales through optimal profit.

6.) Sealed bid or tender pricing: this is suitable for those companies where institutional customers call the tenders from the companies. The best and lowest price tender is accepted.

7.) Affordable or social welfare pricing: the pricing is done in such a way that all the segments of the market afford to buy and consume the product as per their need. Like government subsidy help each segment of the consumer to buy the product at an affordable pricing.

8.) Differentiated pricing: in this case different price is charged by the company from the different segment. Like charging low price from the whole sellers and high price from the retailers.

9.) Psychological pricing: many sellers use this technique of selling the product. Like 99 store.

10.) Target pricing: here the price is fixed at full cost + mark up.

11.) Loss leader: sometime firm sell multiple products, charge relatively low price on some popular product with the hope that customer who will buy this product will also buy the other product of the firm.

12.) Cyclical pricing: in depression firm reduce the price of the product while in boom increases the price.

13.) Suggested pricing: in this case the manufacturer or whole seller suggests the retailer to charge this price from the customers.

All the above discussed are the general pricing strategies used by the marketer.

The post Pricing methods or pricing strategies in marketing first appeared on Winner Science.

Price bundling:

It is the practice of selling two or more separate products together for a single price. This is usually done in case of goods which are sold as package. Like mobile phone with data cable, cover, head phone etc. it is of three types:

1.) Pure bundling: this type of price bundling is used where two products can be sold only as package. For example a new pen is always sold with its refill.

2. )Mixed bundling: it is used when the product can be sold separately as well as a bundle. For example pizza hut’s pan for four.

3. ) Tying: in this case a main product is purchased with the complementary product. Like nail polish is purchased with its complementary product nail polish remover.

The post Price bundling and its types first appeared on Winner Science.

1.) First degree price discrimination: in such a case the monopolist charge different price as per the paying capacity of the consumer. For example the doctors charge fewer fees from poor.

2.) Second degree price discrimination: in such a case the monopolist charge different price for different units of the same product. For example the government charge different price for different units of electricity.

3.) Third degree price discrimination: in such a case there is a two type of market like in railways there is the option of first class, second class etc.

The post Price discrimination and its types first appeared on Winner Science.

The price of the product is generally affected by number of factors. Therefore before deciding the price the marketer has to keep in mind the factors affecting the price. Generally they are divided into two parts:

Internal factors and external factors:

Internal factors affecting pricing policy:

1.)    Marketing objectives: before setting the price the company has to keep in mind the marketing objective of the product. Whether the product is for high class, middle class or lower class.

2.)    Marketing mix: price is one of the key elements of marketing mix. Other elements of marketing mix also affect the pricing decision. So the marketer must consider the marketing mix while setting the price.

3.)    Cost:  cost forms the base for the price. A company must consider both fixed as well as variable cost while setting the price.

4.)    Organizational set up: pricing decisions depends upon the organizational set up. In large scale organizations the price is decided by the product manager while in the small organization the price is decided by the top management.

External factors affecting pricing policy:

1.)    Market and demand: cost set the lower limit of the price. While the market and demand set the upper limit. So it is very necessary for the marketer to keep in mind the relationship between price and market & demand.

2.)    Competition: pricing decision is affected by the act of competition. The marketer must keep an eye on the activities of the competitor. Some companies go for price leadership, while other goes for low pricing decision to wipe of the competitors from the market.

3.)    Other environmental factors: while deciding the price of the product the company has to keep in mind the the other environmental factors also like:

Ø      Economic conditions of the country like boom, recession, inflation etc.

Ø      Consumer perception regarding the product.

Ø      Government policy also affects the pricing policy.

Ø      Distribution channel also have an effect on the price of the product.

Therefore all these are the important factors which affect the pricing policy.

The post 2 Factors affecting pricing policy first appeared on Winner Science.

Price is the amount which is charged by the manufacturer for the goods. It is the only element of marketing mix which generates revenue and profit to the company. For a manufacturer it is the quantity of the money received by the firm and for a consumer it is the quantity of the goods and services received by the buyer.

Aim of pricing decision

Ø      The aim of pricing should be that the firm should maximize the profit.

Ø      The firm should get minimum return on investment.

Ø      The firm should get specified market share.

Ø      Price should be equal to that of competitor.

Pricing determination procedure

1.)    First of all the target market has to be identified.

2.)    Then the company has to decide the product’s market position.

3.)    Then price elasticity of the product is decided.

4.)    The product life cycle is also considered.

5.)    Competitor’s price is also analyzed.

6.)    Other environmental factors are also considered.

7.)    After this suitable price is selected.

8.)    Then lastly, the price, its methods, procedures are reviewed periodically.

The post Pricing decision in marketing first appeared on Winner Science.

Stage I Product development stage: This stage begins when the company develops a new product. Which involves the process of Idea generation, Idea screening, Concept development, Market strategy development, Business analysis, Product development, Test marketing and Commercialization.

Stage II Introduction stage: this stage starts with the launching of the product. At this stage the sale of the product is low and due to low sale there are heavy promotion expenses and profits are negative. At this level or stage the marketer can himself decide the product pricing policy which he want to opt. there are different product pricing policy shown below:-

Stage III Growth stage: in this stage the sale of the product start increasing and consumer start liking the product. Profit of the company also increases. But in this stage company is required to use different strategies to be in the market. Like the company have to do proper advertising, improve product quality, its features etc.

Stage IV Maturity stage: with this stage the product enters the stage of maturity. This stage has last longer than the previous stages. This stage has three phases:

Ø      Growth maturity: the growth starts decline because of distribution saturation.

• Stable maturity: the growth starts decline because of market saturation.
• Decaying maturity: here consumers start moving towards other products.

Stage V Decline stage: at the end sale of all the products start declining. Decline in sale may be due to many reasons like competition, consumer change in liking, technology changes etc. so it better to reduce or stop the production of those products.

Therefore all these are the different stages through which the product goes.

The post Five stages of product life cycle first appeared on Winner Science.

1.) Idea generation:- with the changing technology there is the need to generate the idea regarding new product development as the existing product becomes obsolete with the time and technology. The idea to generate new product can be developed by doing research of the market sources like consumer liking, disliking, competitor policy, from the employees etc.

2.) Idea screening:– after the first stage of product development process, when the company has number of ideas, in that case there is the need to accept the good idea and reject the bad one. As accepting the wrong idea can result into lot of loss of money, technology, time and energy. So it is better to reject the bad idea as soon as possible.

3.) Concept development:– after screening of the idea there is the need to develop the concept in meaningful customer terms. For eg. In case the company is producing a soap which has high nutritional value then the question arises either to introduce it as a tasty soap or as a rich nutritional soap. The most suitable concept is then picked up. The consumer can be asked to react to each concept and they can help in determining a concept having strong liking of the consumer.

4.) Market strategy development:– at this stage the marketer has to decide what kind of marketing strategy to be used for the product either to launch the product in the entire market or in a particular area.

5.) Business analysis:- in this stage the marketer has to decide whether they are able to achieve projected sale or profit. if the answer to the question is yes then the product concept move to product development stage.

6.) Product development:– if the answer to above question is yes then the next stage product development starts. Here the research and development department develop a physical product. Then they are put under functional and consumer test. Functional tests are done in the laboratory and consumer test is done by bringing consumer in the laboratory.

7.) Test marketing:- after the product development stage the product is ready to come in the market with a proper brand name and packaging. The aim of this stage is to find out how large the market is.

8.) Commercialization:-  the last stage is the commercialization of the product. While launching the product the marketer has to keep in mind the following questions:

Ø     When to launch the product?

Ø     For whom the product to be launched?

Ø     How to introduce the product in the market?

Ø     Where to launch the product?

Therefore, all these are the product development decision process.

You can see my other article “4 types of product policy decision“.

Note: please give feedback in the comment section for improvement.

The post 8 Stages of Product development process first appeared on Winner Science.