THE 4 P’S OF MARKETING

PLACE

 Is one of the most important parts of marketing strategy

 Refers to the geographical location in which the company sells its products
and provides its services.
 To make products available in the right place in the right time in the right
quantities
 Place strategy also known as distribution strategy.
PLACE CONT’D

 Questions to be addressed
 Where do buyers look for your product or service??
 If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket,
or both? Online? Or direct, via a catalog?
 How can you access the right distribution channels?
 Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online
submissions? Or send samples to catalog companies?
 What do your competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or
differentiate?
PLACE CONT’D

 Place allows the business to decide where it should distribute

its product and customer should be able to get product easily.
 Therefore the business will decide on different channels of
distribution.
DISTRIBUTION

 is a process of making a product or service available for the

consumer business user who needs it.
 this can be done directly by the product or service provider or using
indirect channels with distributers or intermediaries.
 There are two types of distribution

1. Direct distribution
2. Indirect distribution
1.DIRECT DISTRIBUTION (ZERO LEVEL)

 Product moves directly from manufacturer to consumer .

MANUFACTURE
CUSTOMER
R
 Is better to connect with customers
 Is the shorter channel of marketing
 The customer pay lower prices
 Customer feedback about the product is easily obtained
 No wholesaler or retailer(no intermediary)
 Various methods like e-commerce , telemarketing,or others
Eg.bakery sell its products directly for the consumer.
2.INDIRECT DISTRIBUTION

 Needs one or more intermediaries to do the work

I. 1-level

MANUFACTURE
RETAILER CUSTOMER
R

 The manufacturer can sell large quantities to retailer

 Reduce distribution costs as compared to direct distribution
 No direct contact with customers means no customer feedback
 Retailer adds up his margin profit means selling price to
customers becomes higher.
INDIRECT DISTRIBUTION CONT’D

II. 2-level
MANUFACTURE
WHOLESALER RETAILER CUSTOMER
R

 wholesaler bear the storage space

 Wholesaler bears the transport cost s when delivering to retailers
 Both wholesaler and retailer add their margin of profit on the product.
 The selling price is even higher to customers
 The product takes longer time to reach to customers.
INDIRECT DISTRIBUTION CONT’D

III. 3-level
MANUFACTURE AGEN
R T
WHOLESALER RETAILER CUSTOMER

 Agents allow the product to reach a larger market

 Agent have better market knowledge
 Manufacturer has lesser control over the distribution of its products
 Agents charges high fees to distribute products to wholesaler
FUNCTION OF DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

 Provide a link between production and consumption

 To gather market information
 Communicate promotional offers
 Find and communicate with prospective buyers
 Physical distribution –transporting and storing
 Financing –other parties finance the stock
 Risk taking – other parties take some risk
ELEMENTS OF MARKETING CHANNELS
1. CUSTOMER SERVICE
 Is standard of customer satisfaction ,which retailers plan to provide for its
customers.
2. Order processing
 Is handling of customer orders within the distribution center.
 The basic idea is to deliver the orders as per the customers wants of place
and timing.
3. Inventory control
 Is major component of retail organizations physical distribution system.
MARKETING CHANNEL DECISIONS

 The first step to deciding the best distribution channel to use ,a company
needs to
 Analyze the customer and understand their needs
 Discuss and finalize channel objectives
 Work out distribution tasks and process
Some key questions to ask in finalizing these three areas include
 Where do users seek to purchase the product?
 Is it supermarket or a specialist store or online store?
 What is the access available to the right distribution channels?
 What are competitors doing ?are they successful?