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The fast changing environmental factors have significantly influenced the global marketing activities The major emerging issues in international markets may be summarized in the following manner. A. Accelerated Growth of Global Markets B. Breaking Down of Marketing Boundaries C. Emerging New Marketing Barriers D. Emergence of Global Customer Segment E. Product Proliferation and Shortening Product Life Cycle F. Growing Strength of Retailers G. Emergence of Knowledge Economy
H. Increasing Customer Sophistication I. Market Beyond the Urban Middle Class J. Growing Awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) K. Impact of Information and Communication Technology L. Global e-marketing/e-commerce M. Physical Market-place to Virtual Marketspace N. Reverse Marketing O. Types of e-marketing/ e-commerce
The income of people across the world is increasing rapidly opening up higher marketing opportunities The World Bank estimates that the per capita income is likely to increase in all regions of the world except in Sub-Saharan Africa Markets world-wide are likely to grow at a much higher rate than anticipated.
facilitated the reduction of marketing barriers among the member nations For instance, the European Union (EU) has become a powerful economic union considerably affecting a firms marketing strategy for the European market.
are often evolved to impose such barriers by highincome countries to restrict the import of goods from low-income countries, which find it very hard to defend such measures.
However, the emergence of nuclear families, with both the parents working, has made television the prominent source of acculturation not only in the Western countries but also in the oriental countries Besides, the advances in the modes of transport and increased international travel have greatly contributed to the growing similarity in customer preferences across the countries. Thus, the process of globalization has encouraged firms to tap the global markets with increased product standardization This has also given rise to a rapid increase in global brands.
Today, the breakthroughs in computer technology have reduced the life span of computers and their components and software to only a few months rather than a year Since a firm cannot afford to lag behind its competitors who are constantly coming out with new products, it has no other option but to innovate As new product development involves considerable investment of resources, firms are under intense pressure to recover their investment as early as possible and often resort to adopting market skimming strategies.
The private labels have witnessed a rapid increase over the years The share of private labels increased between March 2002 and 2003 from a meagre 0.2% to 15% according to a survey of private labels conducted by AC Neilsen in 36 countries for 80 different categories The growing power of retailers has given rise to the adoption of push strategies by the firms where the retailers wield their muscles to get more and more margins and squeeze the promotional budgets of the companies for creating pull in the markets It is anticipated that retailers power is likely to grow in future.
Firms increasingly derive their competitive advantage based on their intellectual property The Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) under the WTO has generated considerable debate among the highincome and low-income countries about the legislations related to the protection of intellectual property.
Indian customers are making a distinct market segment as they want to enjoy the latest technology/products but, at the same time, they prefer some degree of customization that suits local conditions and tastes.
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Rural India accounts for 70% of toilet soap users and 38% of two-wheeler purchases Therefore, it is difficult for any firm to overlook the huge buying potential of growing rural consumer class However, tapping rural Indian market means reaching out to 6,27,000 villages spread over 32,87,263 sq. km Innovative thinking and strategy is required to break into these markets Coca-Cola company spotted the potential of Indias rural market and perfected a unique supply chain to cater to Indias vast hinterland The supply chain network in rural India requires its
distributors to travel 200 km to reach about five shops in a day with drop sizes of less than a case Besides, a typical village retail structure consists of 4-5 kirana shops (small grocery shops).
These centres would eventually act as referral centres for Pfizer products Similarly, Hindustan Lever Limited promoted its health care programmes in the villages of Kerala as a part of its plan to expand its market for personal care products in rural India Lafarge, the global building materials manufacturer, plans to build low-cost concrete houses at a cost of less than US $ 1,000.
Earlier, the information flow between the companies and the customers was generally a one-way process The information was market-controlled, customers were ill-informed, and the exchanges were market-initiated The industrial era was known as the era of information asymmetry With the breakthroughs in information and communication technology, information has become affordable and universal The ease of access and availability of information about a firms products and those of its competitors to the customers have greatly increased around the world
This has resulted in a shift of power from the manufacturers to the customers This has led to not only customer-oriented marketing but also customer-initiated marketing The use of Internet has empowered buyers significantly Today, the buyers can: Get information about the manufactures of the products and brands around the world Carry out comparison of product features, quality, prices, etc. from a variety of sources Initiate requests for advertising and information from the manufacturers Design the market offerings
Hire buying agents and invite market offers from multiple sellers; and Buy ancillary products and services from a specialized third party.
For instance, airlines, railways, tour operators, etc. provide online booking that bypasses traditional market intermediaries, such as travel agents Internet websites also provide links with other websites that help customers gather more information.
It may be in the form of either online delivery or physical delivery Software, music, design, etc. may be delivered online whereas physical goods have to be delivered physically.
N. Reverse Marketing
Earlier, the marketers used to initiate the marketing activities, but today the information and communication technology has completely changed the marketing system, enabling customers to initiate the marketing activities The phenomenon is termed as reverse marketing where the customers initiate the exchanges and gather the required information.
The customers can now initiate and carry out the following activities: N1. Reverse Promotion N2. Reverse Advertising N3. Reverse Pricing N4. Reverse Segmentation
O3. Consumers to Business (C2B) e-marketing O4. Consumers to Consumers (C2C) e-marketing
Customer
Customer
As the prices have become more transparent through the Internet, it has increased price pressures on un-differentiated commodities At the same time, it provides greater information on highly differentiated brands Launched in 1999, auctionindia.com claims to be Indias first business to business (B2B) auction site It provides superior customer value by using dynamic price-based solutions, i.e., auctions to create an online market-space for industrial assets Besides, the auction sites also bring together buyers and sellers through a comprehensive listing and asset-matching facility.
The consumers buying online tend to be relatively younger, better educated, and generally affluent The B2C e-marketing leads to exchange processes initiated and controlled by the customers Until customers invite marketers to participate in their exchange processes, marketers will have to wait Moreover, the rules of marketing engagement are also determined by the end customers.
The site permits sellers to list items for sale and buyers to bid on the items of their interest All eBay users browse through listed items on an easy-to-use online service Items generally transacted under eBay or its Indian subsidy baazee.com include apparel and accessories, books and magazines, computers and peripherals, fitness and sports, jewellery and watches, music and instruments, stamps, coins, consumer electronics, mobiles and accessories, movies and videos, etc.
Such relationships were also an integral part of high cultural context of oriental markets However, with the advent of the Internet, the concept of relationship marketing has become highly popular in the Western markets Customer relationship marketing (CRM) is defined as the process of creating and maintaining business relationship by a firm with its customers In the oriental countries, marketing activity was traditionally carried out through exchange processes based on mutual trust and relationship between the buyers and sellers
The typical process of CRM is as follows: Identify key customers in terms of long-term potential profits Analyze the expectations of the customers and the sellers Find out strategies to work more closely with the customers Identify the changes required in the operating procedures Customize the marketing mix Establish an institutional mechanism for regular interactions with the customers
The information and communication technology facilitates customer relationship marketing (CRM) in the following manner: It facilitates mass customization of marketing messages and also the product It helps in initiating two-way dialogues with the customers, allowing the firm to customize its market offerings to meet the customers needs It makes it possible to receive online feedbacks It provides incentives to the customers to engage in dialogues.