Download Revision points for customer focus and marketing mix

Topic 1.4: Making the start-up effective
revision points
Chapter 19: Customer focus and the marketing mix
A
business must have customers to survive.
 Customer
focus involves identifying, anticipating and meeting customer needs – paying
attention to what they want or need.
 Identifying
customer needs involves finding out what they want from a product (a good or
service).
 Anticipating
needs involves being at the forefront of fashion, being aware of market
changes and reacting effectively.
 To
meet customer needs, a business must make sure that its product does what consumers
want. Being consumer led means changing products in line with changes in consumer
wants and needs.
 Market
types can be:
• Product led, design then sell, e.g. highly technical products such as healthcare
equipment.
• Market led, produce to meet identified demand, e.g. changes in the way people listen
to music has brought about new products to meet those needs.
 The
marketing mix is the 4 Ps – Price, Promotion, Product, Place.
 Price
is the value that customers place on the product and which represents a measure of
value for money.
 Successful
products are often designed to meet customer needs and target the segment
of the market to which it is to be sold.
 Promotion
involves providing information about a product and persuading customers to
buy it. It includes advertising and other forms, such as point-of-sale promotions, free gifts,
trials, roadshows, user testing, competitions and sample products.
 Place
is about how the product is made available to customers, the distribution methods
and how convenient it is for customers to access the product.
 Differences
in the marketing mix can have different emphasis, e.g. existing market/low
price: new market/ emphasis on promotion, budgets and types of product.
© Pearson Education Ltd 2009
Edexcel GCSE Business Studies
page 1