For this assignment for contemporary marketing I have been requested to create a formal report on issues in relationship marketing, the information that I obtain from my research has to be in form of an information report which will be easy to read and assignment based. This booklet can be a maximum of around 3000 words and in this report I may cover some of the topics which are in the assignment guidelines, these include:* What is relationship marketing?* Importance of relationship marketing* Benefits of relationship marketing* How can ICT support customer relationship?* Employee's knowledge about the business* Role of marketing in non-traditional context* Stakeholders in voluntary organisation* Stakeholders in a public organisation* Why do stakeholders have interest in these types of organisations?* Marketing non-profit organisations* Comparison of marketing methods* Issues with online marketing* Marketing mix and importance* Using marketing mix in customer service* Difficulties in service sector marketing* ICT in Marketing* Marketing Management* Ethical issues in marketing* Social issues in marketing* Pressure groups and its influencesMost of these subjects will relate to a specific business of my choice, and the organisation that I have chosen for this assignment is Tesco PLC.What is relationship marketing?Relationship Marketing involves using different types of methods and techniques to develop long term relationship with customers in order to retain them, every organisation must improve on customer satisfaction in order to retain them and develop a healthy relationship with their customers.
Traditional marketing involved the organisation focusing all of its marketing efforts on attracting the customer for one off sales; however customers who are loyal always end up spending more in the long-term.Importance of relationship marketingCustomer relationship which is the most important part of relationship marketing are the means of support of every good organisation; relationships between a company and their customers, suppliers and employee, are vital to continue and sustained growth as well as stability of the relationship in marketing. Loyal relationships with these valued individuals and groups are the key to success but still many companies do not focus on customer relationship marketing and the greatest question remains why these businesses do not focus on these criteria's because lacking in marketing could mislead understanding of the potential profits in keeping existing customers happy versus constantly acquiring new ones.Benefits of relationship marketingSome of the benefits of relationship marketing include:* Loyal customers, which means more recommendations of Tesco as a business to others, consequently expanding Tesco's business and this is free marketing for the business.* Tesco's loyal customers will mostly be willing to try some of their new products, because they have trust in the business and its products and service* As well as the point above, some customers are willing to pay more for services and products if they can be adjusted in pricing because they are loyal to the business and trust their services or products.* Loyal customers of Tesco will tell and advice the business about problems and issues with any of their products and/or services, enabling Tesco to improve their products or services effectiveness* The ultimate benefit of relationship marketing is and will be an increase in sales for Tesco and higher market share which equals sector domination which Tesco has achieved.
How can ICT support customer relationship?ICT plays a significant part in enabling an effective customer relationship management, especially in large organisations like Tesco.There are many systems available in the market which can help Tesco improve their customer service relationship and it is important to have a clear idea of the requirements during the selection process as there are different types of systems available for different needs which for most organisations will also involve the selection of ICT service.Siebel and Sage which now provide the well-known customer relationship management solutions, and Front Range product is Goldmine and is significant and proven customer relationship management software products for organisations like Tesco. (IMAGE: www.gecdsb.on.
ca/d&g/ict/ict.gif)Employee's knowledge about the businessThe most common information that employees who work at the bottom of the hierarchy at Tesco will have information like who are Tesco's suppliers like how and who Tesco buys their products from, who are local traders around the business location, who are they staff members and what positions they hold in the business, what different types of customers Tesco, age segmentation in brands products, what is the stores weekly or even daily target and many more.A staff member's knowledge about the business that they work for and the eagerness of the individual to gain information about the business will show how much that employee cares about the business and what is the level of their consciousness, in most cases Tesco's management team will share the information which can he shared without any thread to the business and as well as that when employees are told about certain areas of the business this usually makes them more attentive and increases their level of motivation as the individual feels more involved and fells a part of the team.Knowing about the business that a individual works for is important if they want to move up the hierarchy and into a more managerial position, questioning employees and finding out how much they know about Tesco will create the segment needed to separate the enthusiastic employees from the uninterested and 'I just work here' types of people.Role of marketing in non-traditional contextNon-traditional market in simple words means modern marketing.
It doesn't matter what a business is marketing but how they are marketing it, in simple words 'yesterdays marketing tactics most probably will not work like they use to at that time'. Non-traditional marketing is becoming increasingly important and valuable to businesses which are struggling to regain market share which they might have had few years back.Why do stakeholders have interest in these types of organisations?Employees might have interest in non-profit organisations because they might want to make a difference in the world by helping people or even working for a company which have high status symbol.Donors are the most important aspect of a non-profit organisation because mostly or all non-profit organisations struggle to get the right amount of donation when needed and donors sometimes donate money, resources or even time to create a positive effect on the community and the world as well as gaining self satisfaction. Volunteers are very much the same as donors except for the fact that volunteers mostly donate time in order to gain professional experience, gain knowledge or even to exercise this as their hobby.The community will always pay good amount of interest in the non-profit organisations, this is because most of the time as soon as there is big charity work involved the media wants to know all about it and who is and isn't involved in this work, so this is why some communities, businesses and other groups might contribute time and money to create a good image upon themselves.
Marketing non-profit organisationsThere are many different types of organisation, some of which are profit motivated and others which operate without making a profit in mind. Marketing non-profit organisations is one of the greatest marketing difficulties this is because the general concept of marketing is to increase business or organisation profit but in non-profit organisation.Comparison of marketing methodsPublic and VoluntaryIn the public sector much of the marketing related activity is concerned with the satisfaction of customers despite the fact that frequently there is no direct or even indirect form of competition. In non-profit organisations because there is no profit involved there are a smaller number or people and groups interested in investing their time and money. Considering this in mind the non-profit organisations have to use very eye catching and sometimes aggressive advertisements in order to gain the interest of the general public but sometimes this marketing technique can sometimes go against the organisation for example in April 2009, a Anti-smoking campaign advertisement was criticised for scaring and upsetting children by showing the dangers of smoking.PrivateMarketing private organisations is much easier than marketing non-profit organisations, private organisations are profit based and they can attract investors much easier by showing a good return on investment and most importantly private organisations and businesses decide themselves on what they want to sell to the public and what the public wants or needs butIssues with online marketingPositive issues* Convenient for customers as they can shop 24 hours a day from anywhere without going to the store physically* Interactive and Immediate, consumers can interact with the seller's site to find the information, products or services they desire, then order or download them on the spot.
* Reduce Costs and Increase Efficiency avoids the expense of maintaining a physical store, costs of rent, insurance, and utilities. Digital catalogues cost less to produce than printing and mailing paper catalogues.Negative issues* There is a lot of competition for products already out there by the time visitor finds the new business, they have already been clicking many links. Unless they can find what they are looking for quickly, they are gone.
* Hardware failure can be caused by a malfunction within the electronic circuits or electromechanical components (disks, tapes) of a computer system. Recovery from a hardware failure requires repair or replacement of the offending part.* Piggybacking is gaining access to a restricted communications channel by using the session another user already established. Piggybacking can be defeated by logging off before leaving a workstation or terminal or by initiating a protected mode, such as via a screensaver that requires re-authentication before access can be resumed.
* Phishing and identity theft is when an attempt is made on stealing the identity of others by using their credit card, driver's license, social security or other personal identification numbers. With "true name" identity theft, the thief uses the information to open new accounts. With "account takeover" identity theft, the thief uses the information to access existing accounts. Not only can the thieves run up bills for the victims, but they can commit crimes pretending to be the victim, who may have enormous difficulty proving otherwise.Extended MarketingMarketing mix and importanceProductA Product is simply the touchable and physical entity that someone may be buying or selling, but in this case any business like Tesco sells a very wide rage and variety of products to its customer.
PriceThere are six important different types of pricing strategy that are important for any business like Tesco and these are:> Penetration pricing: Penetration pricing is when any business like Tesco starts selling their service and wants to get to people interested to buy what they are selling so sometimes they start from a low price. Once the product has become established then they price will increase gradually but no rapidly.> Skimming: Skimming is the opposite of penetration pricing it starts with high price when the ticket prices became established then the price will decrease after time. This is to help them make themselves distinctive and target people with a high income and then come to a lower level. But for business like Tesco this is rarely the case as their prices are hardly targeted at the upper-class.> Destroyed pricing: Destroyed pricing also known as self-indulging pricing.
The way it works is when Tesco sells at very low products prices until they have driven competitors out of the market and then they will raise prices steadily.> Price discrimination: This is different prices to different consumers for the same product; this can vary from area to area because of the level of high level earners in prosperous areas for Tesco this does exist because they are well established and their expenditures vary in different cities and countries, ultimately variable product prices.> Competition pricing: Competition pricing occurs when a large business like Tesco charges prices similar to other competitors. It happens when there is lots of choice and not much product differentiation.PlacePlace is where customers can buy Tesco's products and services from.
Tesco is spread out and located all over the country and out. Tesco sells their products in a long list of cities where there is high availability of consumers. Tesco always chooses the place carefully where to open a new branch because in some places where they are lots of competitor and lots of choices at a higher cost.PromotionPromotion includes all of the tools that Tesco will need to be able to get more attention from the target market.
PeoplePeople are the most important aspect of any business like Tesco as products that Tesco sell have to be consumed in a certain amount of time which is within the expiry. An aspect of the people is customer experience these sometimes have to be altered to meet the individual needs of the person buying the products and using the service.; TrainingAll employees facing customers need to be trained appropriately and developed to maintain a high quality of customer service. Training at Tesco begins as soon as the individual starts working for the company which is normally after the introduction, all issues and experiences are supported by customer services teams at Tesco, the temperament and attitude of people in that department is vitally important to a company because the way in which a complaint is handled can mean the difference between retaining or losing customers.ProcessBooking a delivery on the Internet is a important process to Tesco as now a very larger number of their sales are made via the internet.
Process begins with an individual visits Tesco's website and then selects the right products and conforms a delivery slot. In the final step would be to get the product on time, and arrive fresh at your home. This is all part of the marketing process.
