Marketing Online

Marketing mix describes the set of tools that management can use to
influence sales. The traditional formulation is called the 4Ps—product,
price, place, and promotion. From the very beginning questions were raised about the 4P
formulation of the marketing mix.
• Perfume companies wanted packaging to be added as a fifth P.
4P guardians said that packaging is already in the scheme, under
product.
• Sales managers asked whether the sales force was left out because
it began with an S. No, said the guardians, sales force is
a promotion tool, along with advertising, sales promotion,
public relations, and direct marketing.
• Service managers asked where services were in the marketing
mix, or whether they, too, were excluded because the first letter
was S. Here the guardians said services are part of the
product. As services grew more important, service marketers
suggested adding three Ps to the original 4Ps, namely personnel,
procedures, and physical evidence. Thus a restaurant’s performance
will depend on its staff, the process by which it serves food (buffet, fast food, tablecloths, etc.), and its physical
looks and features as a restaurant.
• Others suggested adding personalization to the marketing
mix. The marketer has to decide how personalized to make
the product, the price, the place, and the promotion.
• In my own case, I suggested adding politics and public relations
to the 4Ps, because these can also influence a company’s
ability to sell.
• At one time, I had also proposed escaping from the prison of
the letter P by redefining the essential function of each P:
Product = Configuration
Price = Valuation
Place = Facilitation
Promotion = Symbolization
A more basic criticism has been that the 4Ps represent the
seller’s mind-set, not the buyer’s mind-set. Robert Lauterborn suggested
that sellers should first work with 4Cs before setting the 4Ps.42
The 4Cs are customer value (not product), customer costs (not price
alone), convenience (not place), and communication (not promotion).
Once the marketer thinks through the 4Cs for the target customer,
it becomes much easier to set the 4Ps.
The Ps can substitute for each other in driving sales. A car dealer
sold cars with 10 salespeople and normal markups. His sales were
poor. Then he cut his staff to five salespeople and lowered his car
prices significantly. He did a land-office business. Similarly, Jeff Bezos,
CEO of Amazon, reduced his advertising expenditures and lowered
his book prices, and Amazon’s sales shot up significantly.
Setting the 4Ps is difficult because of their interactions. Take
product and place:
• Suppose product is 0 and place is 1. How much is 0 × 1?
Answer = 0.