Characteristics of modern marketing concepts. Marketing Concepts Consumer marketing concept is relevant in market conditions

Example

In 2002, the new Audi A 8 model was presented to Russian VIP clients. Here is what Vardan Dashtoyan, director of the Moscow Audi Center-North, said about it even before its appearance on the market: This is a completely different car: with a new body, engine, transmission, but the main thing is that for the first time in a luxury car there will be a CVT along with all-wheel drive. This is our trump card in terms of security and functionality. Our analysts believe that one of the advantages for promoting Audi is that this brand is not yet associated with anything in people’s perceptions. For example, BMW is associated with the concept of “sporty”, and Mercedes - “pretentious”. No Audi yet. But buyers most often prefer it for reasons such as driving pleasure and ease of control, good maneuverability, the presence of advanced technologies, a feeling of freedom and comfort. Many also take into account the high level of safety and technical characteristics, in particular all-wheel drive. Therefore, we are thinking of positioning the brand as “progressive”, “sporty” and “sophisticated”. As for the new A8, we expect an increase in its sales in Russia in volumes comparable to the BMW “seven.”

Example

3/4 of Moscow beauty salons were created as an image project, designed for a narrowly limited circle of clients (well-to-do people from the “high society”). In such salons, very high prices are set and significant funds are invested in renting premises in the city center, expensive interiors, and purchasing cosmetics from the world's leading manufacturers. Much less attention is paid to the selection of qualified personnel, because for clients of “elite” salons it is important not just and not so much to receive a service, but to receive it in this particular salon. Consumers cannot really estimate the cost of labor spent on the production of a service, and in fact pay only for the image.

There are five main marketing concepts on the basis of which commercial services of enterprises conduct their activities: improvement of production, improvement of goods, intensification of commercial efforts, “consumer” marketing, social and ethical marketing.

Historically, the concept of production improvement, or production, was the first to arise. It is based on the predisposition of consumers to widespread and affordable goods, which requires constant improvement of technology and production organization, increasing volumes and reducing production costs. At the same time, all attention is focused on internal production capabilities, which makes it possible to saturate the market with any product or service. This approach is quite justified when demand significantly exceeds supply or when the cost of producing a unit of goods is quite large and needs to be reduced through mass production of products. The connection between the manufacturer and the market is carried out in this case according to the scheme

The concept of production improvement was used by most enterprises of the former USSR. This was due to the fact that demand for almost all goods significantly exceeded supply and enterprises were forced to constantly increase production volumes. This approach did not always ensure that the real needs of the population were taken into account, but due to mass production it made it possible to produce relatively cheap goods. The collapse of the USSR, the transition to market relations, and the saturation of the market with “colonial” goods led to the fact that the products of many domestic manufacturers became uncompetitive, primarily due to high prices due to disruption of the mass production of individual products and their inconsistency with the requirements of the buyer.

When implementing the concept of improving production at a printing enterprise, this technique can be used. The same publication is produced in two versions: a gift edition with excellent printing and numerous illustrations, and a regular text version. Naturally, the prices of the publications will vary, but the total sales volume may significantly exceed that which would have been achieved if the publication had been produced in one version.

The concept of product improvement, or product improvement, assumes that consumers will favor products that are of the highest quality at reasonable and affordable prices.

Based on this concept, the company's efforts are primarily focused on the continuous improvement of manufactured products. The vulnerability of the concept is that it is impossible to endlessly improve the same product. Almost every need can be satisfied with a new substitute product.

The concept of product improvement was quite widely used by enterprises in the printing industry in the recent past, when the so-called “scarce market” operated and it was believed that a good book would find its reader on its own, it just had to be published.

However, even today this concept is often used when publishing translated publications. When making a decision in this case, the main thing is that this book (regardless of the subject - fiction or scientific and technical) was in great demand in other countries.

The concept of intensifying commercial efforts, or the sales concept, was a natural result of the development of production and product concepts, which, paying maximum attention to increasing production and improving the product, practically did not engage in a thorough study and formation of the market. In such conditions, sooner or later, the problem of sales will definitely become aggravated, when the enterprise tries to sell already produced goods by all means and methods available to it. Consequently, in practice, the implementation of the sales concept is essentially associated with the imposition of a purchase. Moreover, the seller strives to conclude a deal at all costs, and satisfying the needs of buyers is a secondary point for him.

The concept of "consumer" marketing, or market, is that the condition for the success of an enterprise is to identify the needs and requirements in target markets and provide the desired customer satisfaction in ways that are more effective and more productive than those of competitors. The company integrates and coordinates its activities with the expectation of ensuring the interests of customers, making a profit precisely by creating and maintaining consumer demand.

For a clearer understanding of the essence of the concept of “consumer” marketing, it is advisable to compare it with the concept of intensifying commercial efforts. The two concepts are no doubt quite similar, but marketing solves a much broader range of problems.

Commercial sales efforts are about focusing on the needs of the seller, while marketing is about focusing on the needs of the buyer. Commercial sales efforts are concerned with the seller's needs to convert his product into cash, while marketing is concerned with satisfying the customer's needs through the product and the range of factors involved in the creation, delivery and ultimately consumption of that product.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that all the latest trends in the development of public consciousness in Russia in the gradual understanding of the principles of the formation of a socially oriented market mechanism are completely consonant with the social and ethical concept of marketing, which is characterized by the following most typical and mandatory requirements.

1. The primary purpose of an enterprise must be to satisfy the reasonable, healthy needs of consumers in accordance with the humane interests of society.

2. The enterprise must be constantly searching for opportunities to create new products that better satisfy the needs of customers. It must be prepared to systematically introduce improvements to products in accordance with the interests of customers.

3. An enterprise must refuse to produce and sell goods that are contrary to the interests of consumers in general, and especially if they can cause harm to the consumer and society as a whole.

4. Consumers, relying on their own actions and public opinion, should support only those enterprises that expressly show concern for satisfying the normal healthy needs of the carriers of effective demand.

5. Consumers, caring about maintaining and improving the quality of life, will not buy goods from enterprises that use environmentally “unclean” technologies, even to produce goods that society needs.

6. An enterprise must create and implement such social and economic development programs that not only serve the interests of the enterprise itself and its workforce, but are also useful for the social development of the region in which the enterprise operates.

Obviously, fulfilling these requirements is only possible if the enterprise is completely independent in economic terms, operates in a competitive market, and its management is based on humane, moral and ethical principles that allow overcoming collective egoism.

The social and ethical concept of marketing differs from the “ordinary” concept of marketing in that the goal of the first is to ensure the long-term well-being of not only an individual enterprise, but also society as a whole. Therefore, when marketing management at the enterprise level, it is necessary to take into account at least four points: the needs of the buyer (consumer); vital interests of the consumer; interests of the enterprise; interests of society.

The choice of a particular concept by an enterprise in the printing industry should be determined by the goals and objectives of its activities in the market in the coming period. It should be noted that each marketing concept has merits and can ensure success in real market conditions. Therefore, they cannot be opposed. Rather, on the contrary, to achieve success, you need to learn how to create combinations of these concepts to strengthen your position in the competition. The choice of concept is largely determined by the enterprise’s available resources (financial, labor and material).

In the history of marketing development, the following stages of its formation are known: production, sales, marketing and relationships (Table 1.2).

Table 1.2

Stages of marketing development

Historical excursion

Production stage personified the conveyor line of G. Ford, which he used for the mass production of cars. The attitude towards marketing in those years is clearly reflected by his famous expression: “They (consumers) can have any color (of the car) they want as long as it remains black.”

Sales stage characterizes the example of the majority of Russian defense enterprises, which, during the conversion of military production during the perestroika period, began to produce consumer goods, often without analyzing whether the consumer would buy them and whether he needed high technical characteristics of the product.

Marketing stage reflects the example of the company Coca-Cola, the success of which is built on a clearly developed marketing strategy. Late 50's - early 60's. XX century The company's activities are characterized by an expansion of the product range. In 1958 appears Fanta, and in 1961 - Sprite. Currently, the world empire produces more than 200 types of drinks, of which Coca-Cola, Fanta And Sprite owns 80% of total sales.

The company constantly ensures that its products meet the tastes of consumers. Consumer preferences are carefully studied by experts, and the company's product range is constantly developing and expanding.

Relationship stage can be illustrated using the example of a company PepsiCo, which actively interacts with suppliers of potatoes and milk. PepsiCo One of the largest food and beverage producers in the world plays an important positive role in promoting sustainable agricultural practices. For example, in Russia, a program to support potato suppliers has been launched since 1996. After the acquisition of Wimm-Bill-Dann, PepsiCo It has also become one of the country's largest industrial milk processors and, since 2006, has been implementing the Wimm-Bill-Dann support program for raw milk suppliers. Both programs are aimed at improving the quality of raw materials and increasing the productivity of suppliers.

Each stage of the evolution of marketing corresponds to certain management concepts of marketing activities that arise in different periods of economic development, as a response to social, economic and political changes that have occurred over the course of the century.

So, production stage corresponds production improvement concept, which is based on the assertion that consumers will buy goods that are widely available and affordable, therefore, the enterprise should focus its efforts on producing the maximum volume of goods. This concept is quite fruitful in a “seller's market” situation. The main characteristics of the concept of production improvement are presented in table. 1.3.

Table 1.3

Main characteristics of the production improvement concept

Sales stage goods correspond to two concepts. Corresponds to the initial stage of sales product improvement concept, which assumes that consumers will be inclined to purchase products that have high quality and moderate foam. The concept is characterized by the concentration of enterprises' efforts on the production of high-quality goods or services and their continuous improvement in an attempt to win customers by offering the best products in their category. The main characteristics of the product improvement concept are presented in table. 1.4.

Table 1.4

Characteristics of the Product Improvement Concept

The second half of the sales stage corresponds to concept of intensifying commercial efforts , which is based on the idea that consumers will not buy a manufacturer's goods in sufficient quantities unless the manufacturer makes significant sales and promotion efforts. The concept applies to passive goods and non-profit activities. Many businesses use this concept when they begin to experience sales difficulties. The purpose of their activity is the sale of manufactured goods, and not the production of products that the market needs.

The main characteristics of the concept of intensifying commercial efforts are presented in Table. 1.5.

The market created on the following concepts is called the “seller's market”, the purpose of which is to ensure the profitability of production, making a profit within a given time frame and within the limits of available resources.

The evolution of the market leads to the emergence of a “buyer’s market”, the distinctive feature of which is its focus on the buyer.

Table 1.5

Characteristics of the concept of intensifying commercial efforts

Corresponds to the marketing stage consumer (market) concept, which is based on identifying and satisfying consumer needs more effectively than competitors, resulting in a profit for the company.

The marketing concept reflects the enterprise's commitment to the theory of consumer sovereignty. Some firms believe that the result of consumer research should be not only the identification of real, but also the formation of potential needs that people do not think about, but the possibility of satisfying, which they enthusiastically respond to. In these cases, creative marketing is used.

The main characteristics of the consumer concept are presented in table. 1.6.

Table 1.6

Characteristics of the consumer concept

The development of the consumer concept has led to the formation of its more modern manifestations. These are social and ethical marketing, enlightened marketing, green marketing, holistic marketing, etc.

F. Kotler generalizes the modern development of marketing technologies into the concept of the so-called “enlightened marketing”, which is based on the idea that marketing should support the optimal functioning of the enterprise in the long term, based on the following principles: customer orientation, marketing of product value, marketing with awareness of its mission, social and ethical (responsible) marketing.

Corresponds to the modern period of marketing concept of social and ethical marketing, which assumes that an enterprise must not only identify and satisfy the needs of target markets more effectively than competitors, but also maintain and strengthen the well-being of individual consumers and society as a whole. This concept requires a balanced linkage of three factors: enterprise profit, consumer needs and consideration of the interests of society. The main characteristics of the concept of social and ethical marketing are presented in table. 1.7.

Enterprises that take the concepts of consumer marketing and social and ethical marketing as the basis for their activities strive to offer the market not just a basic product, but a product with high consumer value.

Customer value can be represented as the difference between perceived benefits (product advantages, level of service, image, etc.) and perceived costs (monetary costs, time and psychological costs).

Table 1.7

Characteristics of the concept of social and ethical marketing

The direction of an enterprise's marketing activities should be to increase perceived benefits and reduce perceived costs.

Relationship Marketing Concept is based on the fact that an enterprise should focus its activities on creating and expanding strong mutually beneficial relationships with consumers or other interested parties (suppliers, contact audiences, intermediaries, etc.). The result of this approach is to increase the likelihood of future transactions with the same consumers.

The main characteristics of the relationship marketing concept are presented in table. 1.8.

Table 1.8

Characteristics of the Relationship Marketing Concept

Relationship marketing is not only applied directly to individual consumers, it is also widely used in the marketplace. B2B. Enterprises no longer consider market participants their opponents, but, on the contrary, are looking for partners to establish mutually beneficial cooperation.

Foreign experience

Starbucks monitors the tastes of its consumers, concluding alliances with other types of business. Back in the early 2000s. this coffee giant has struck a deal with Dreyer's Ice Cream to create five new varieties of coffee-flavored ice cream. After that Starbucks entered into an alliance with PepsiCo, to jointly develop a coffee drink Fra pp uccino, sold in bottles. Buyers can find products Starbucks in hotels Marriott, located at airports, in supermarkets Albertson's and in cafes in bookstores Barnes & Noble, and all this is the result of strategic alliances. These partnerships are currently bringing Starbucks additional $20 million in revenue per year.

The concept of holistic (holistic) marketing assumes that all components of the process are considered as a single whole, and not a collection of individual elements, i.e. it is based on the planning, development and implementation of marketing programs, processes and activities, taking into account their breadth and interdependence.

Holistic marketing includes four components: relationship marketing, integrated marketing, internal marketing and socially responsible marketing (Figure 1.2).

Foreign experience

German company - manufacturer of sports shoes Rita with the help of holistic marketing, it was able to return the leadership position to its brand, which was very popular in the 1970s. and has since been forgotten. The company uses several marketing approaches that, complementing each other, position Rita as a modern brand – a trendsetter. The company develops its products by targeting specific customer groups (snowboarders, motorsports enthusiasts, yoga enthusiasts, etc.) and using research conducted by its retailers.

Besides, Rita focuses on “couch athletes”: the two most popular models are Monstro, walking shoes with knobby soles that extend over five and toe, and Speed Cat, a simple $65 sneaker inspired by Formula 1 racers.

Through thoughtful promotion (partnership with BMW/Mini, design studio Terence Conran Design Shop and the Jamaican Olympic Team), the company promotes word of mouth or "viral marketing". For this purpose, advertising campaigns were also carried out in sushi restaurants during the FIFA World Cup in 2002. Clothes Rita worn by tennis player S. Williams; Products of this brand are shown in television shows and films. This approach yielded results: sales volume Rita has increased and continues to grow over the past ten years.

The main characteristics of the holistic marketing concept are presented in table. 1.9.

Table 1.9

Characteristics of the Holistic Marketing Concept

The experience of using holistic marketing proves that combining efforts and action of all participants in the production and distribution chain in the same direction creates the highest value for consumers.

• In the USA and a number of developed countries. In Russia, marketing began to be used only in the early 1990s. URL: marketing.web-3.ru/definitions/history/

The cardinalist (quantitative) approach to utility analysis is based on the idea of ​​​​the possibility of measuring various goods in hypothetical units of utility - utilities (from the English utility - utility

It should be emphasized that quantitative assessments of the usefulness of a particular product or set of products have an exclusively individual, subjective nature. The quantitative approach does not imply the possibility of objectively measuring the usefulness of a particular product in utilities. The same product may be of great value to one consumer and of no value to another. In the above example, we are apparently talking about a heavy smoker, since adding 1 cigarette to 2 apples significantly increased the utility of the product set. The quantitative approach also usually does not provide for the possibility of measuring the volumes of satisfaction received by various consumers Galperin V.M. Microeconomics. T.1. St. Petersburg, 2014. P. 104..

Economists have repeatedly tried to get rid of the term “utility,” which has some evaluative nature, and to find a suitable replacement for it.

The Italian-Swiss economist and sociologist V. Pareto proposed replacing the term “utility” with the neologism ophеlimitе, which he derived from the Greek YaptsElimpt, meaning the correspondence between a thing and a desire. The French economist C. Gide proposed using the term “desirability”, believing that it “does not presuppose that desire has moral or immoral traits, reasonable or unreasonable” Ibid..

The famous American economist and statistician I. Fisher also spoke out in support of the term “desirability”. “Utility,” he believed, “is the legacy of Bentham and his theory of pleasure and pain.” Fischer also pointed out the preference of the antonym “undesirability” compared to “uselessness.” (The antonym “anti-usefulness” used in our modern literature is completely unsuccessful).

However, the term "utility" has survived its critics and is still used today.

So, in the quantitative theory of utility it is assumed that the consumer can give a quantitative assessment in utils of the utility of any product set he consumes. Formally, this can be written as a total utility function:

where TU is the total utility of a given product set; q a , q b , …, Q z - volumes of consumption of goods A, B, ..., Z per unit of time Galperin V.M. Op. op. P.109..

Assumptions about the nature of the total utility function are of great importance.

Marginal utility is the increase in the total utility of a product bundle when the volume of consumption of a given product increases by one unit.

Mathematically, the marginal utility of a product is the partial derivative of the total utility of the product set by the volume of consumption of the I-th product:

Geometrically, the value of marginal utility (the length of the segment ON) is equal to the tangent of the slope of the tangent to the TU curve at point L. Since the TU line is convex upward, with an increase in the volume of consumption of the i-th product, the slope of this tangent decreases and, consequently, the marginal utility of the product decreases. If at a certain volume of its consumption (in our figure Q” A) the total utility function reaches a maximum, then at the same time the marginal utility of the product becomes zero.

Total and marginal utility

The principle of diminishing marginal utility is often called Gossen's first law, named after the German economist G. Gossen (1810-1859), who first formulated it in 1854. This law contains two provisions. The first states a decrease in the utility of subsequent units of a good in one continuous act of consumption, so that, at the limit, complete saturation with this good is achieved. The second states a decrease in the utility of the first units of the good with repeated acts of consumption Bakanov M.I., Sheremet A.D. Theory of economic analysis. M., 2014. P.215..

However, the principle of diminishing marginal utility is by no means universal. In many cases, the marginal utility of subsequent units of a good first increases, reaches a maximum, and only then begins to decline. This dependence is typical for small portions of divisible goods. The second puff of a cigarette smoked in the morning may have greater utility for the amateur than the first, and the third more than the second.

Thus, the principle of diminishing marginal utility, or Gossen's first law, is valid only if the second partial derivative of the total utility function is negative. However, since the consumer buys on the market not individual acts of consumption (in our example, puffs), but certain goods (in our example, cigarettes), we can assume that for goods traded on the market, Gossen’s first law is satisfied.

At the optimum (maximum utility for given consumer tastes, prices and income), the utility extracted from the last monetary unit spent on the purchase of any product is the same, regardless of which product it was spent on. This position is called Gossen's second law). Of course, a consumer may regret a purchase even if it satisfies equality. This will mean that “during the time from purchase to repentance for it” the sign for this product has changed to the opposite.