Marketing includes those business activities in the flow of goods and services from production to consumption. Goods and services are of two types; consumer and industrial. Firstly, it is important to define the primary difference between Business to Business (B2B) Marketing and Business to Consumer (B2C) Marketing. Both markets are types of commercial transactions, however, simply put, business to consumer (B2C) is the process of selling products directly to consumers and industrial/business to business (B2B) is the process of selling products or services to other businesses. However, the differences between both business systems are much more complex than their simple definitions, so are their similarities.… Read the rest
Industrial Marketing Management
Strategic Planning in the Industrial Market
While the basic principles of marketing planning apply in both markets, many organizations have found that what works well in the consumer market fails to do so in the industrial market. Two significant differences between these markets appear to account for this phenomenon. First, unlike the consumer market where products are normally’ marketed through one or two channels, most industrial marketers face diverse markets that must be reached through a multiplicity of channels-each requiring a different marketing approach. A producer of communication equipment, for instance, may market to such diverse segments as the commercial, institutional, and governmental market, each of which will require a unique marketing plan.… Read the rest
Importance of Services in Industrial Marketing
Business services include maintenance and repair support and advisory support. Like supplies services are considered as expense items. The explosive growth of the internet has increased the demand for a range of electronic commerce services such as delivering technical support, customer training and management development programmes.
The rapid growth of business services in industrial marketing is governed by four important factors which are explained below.
- Innovations: The innovations in the field of science and technology have contributed for increasing demand in the area of business services. Advancement in computer security systems, computer enabled services, environmental control systems for office and factory buildings are examples for the effect of innovations on business services.
Industrial Product Development
Industrial product is defined as a complex set of economic, technical, legal, and personal relationship between the buyer and the seller. A product is a combination of basic, enhanced, and augmented properties. Basic properties are included in the generic product, with fundamental benefits sought by customers. Generic products are made differentiable by adding tangible enhanced properties such as product features, styling and quality. The augmented properties include intangible benefits such as technical assistance, available of spare parts, maintenance and repair services, warranties, training, timely delivery, and attractive commercial terms. The product package as expected by the prospective customers should be well understood by the industrial marketer.… Read the rest
Long-Term Industrial Product Strategies
Industrial marketing firms have to adopt the following three important steps for developing long term product strategies for existing individual products and products lines.
- Assessing the performance of all the existing products or product lines by using product evaluation matrix.
- Examining the relative strengths and weakness of the firm’s products in comparison to competitors’ products by using perceptual mapping technique.
- Deciding the product strategies for the existing products based on the above analysis.
Yoran Wind & Henry Claycamp have developed a technique called product evaluation matrix to be used to assess the product performance. Performance parameters of a product such as industrial sales, company sales, market share and profitability are combined in the matrix. … Read the rest
Product Life Cycle and Industrial Pricing
Pricing strategies vary as the industrial product moves through its life cycle. The industrial pricing strategy is a key factor in each of the four cells of product life cycle.
- Introductory Stage Pricing Strategy: There are two pricing strategies available for a new product which is in the introductory stage of its life cycle. These are: (a) Penetration Strategy, and (b) Skimming Strategy. An industrial marketer must analyze the price from the angle of the buyers. How soon the firm should try ton recover the investment on the new product is another important factor to be considered by the industrial marketer.