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text book marketing management Some marketers believe that price is the most cru

ID: 2817601 • Letter: T

Question

text book marketing management

Some marketers believe that price is the most crucial factor in determining customer purchase decisions. Others believe that product quality has the greatest impact on customer purchase decisions. Both of these viewpoints are short-sighted. a. To be successful, what factor must organizations attempt to optimize in order to maximize customer sales? b. Explain how this factor takes into consideration price, product quality, advertising, store location, service and several other things that marketers have mistakenly thought to be the most important influence on customer purchase decisions

Explanation / Answer

Part a)

In my opinion, the most important factor that organizations must attempt to optimize in order to maximize customer sales is to ensure availability of the product at various locations or to a wide range of customers. Availability of product at various locations (which may include rural and urban areas) will help the company in meeting requirements of different types of customers and this in turn is likely, to increase the sales for the company and enhance its customer base.

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Part b)

To meet the needs of different types of customers, the company will design the product in such a way that it appeals to different segments of the society. This will help the organization in achieving the desired quality (with a view to satisfy wide range of customer groups) and setting the appropriate price (to ensure that customers belonging to different income groups are able to buy and enjoy the product). Further, the company will be able to promote its product through appropriate means in order to inform customers at various locations and establish proper supply chain management to ensure that there is no shortage of product at any point of time at any location. The company can open its own retail outlets or can tie up with various stores (if it is expensive to run and maintain own stores) or use e-commerce as a means to reach customers. To provide after sales services, the company can tie up with third party service providers at various locations and ensure customer satisfaction both at pre-sales and after-sales level. Therefore, while product quality and price are considered to be primary factors influencing purchase decision, these two factors will hold no importance if the product is not made available to customers on a continous basis at various locations. The question of after-sales and related services will arise only if the product is available and is getting sold on a regular basis.