MARKETING ENVIRONMENT INTERNAL MARKETING AND EXTERNAL MICRO ENVIRONMENT

Internal environment A firms marketing system is also shaped by internal forces that are controllable by management. These include a firms production, financial and personnel activities eg: If Godrej company is thinking of adding a new brand of toilet soap which already have more than half dozen brands. It must determine whether existing production facilitates new brand and its expertise can be used more fruitfully. In case a new brand needs a new plant and machinery, it gives rise to its financial capabilities. Other marketing forces are location, research and development, company’s image etc. Thus internal marketing environment includes the company itself, its suppliers, intermediaries, customers etc Thus marketing manager must take into consideration these departments before finalizing marketing decisions.

EXTERNAL MICRO ENVIRONMENT Competitors: Every business organization has to face the competition in the market. These competitors range from purpose competitors to brand competitors. It is up to the marketer to identify the competitors so as to adjust its strategies and be able to adapt the environment efficiently. He has to identify his competitor’s strategies, build plans to overtake them in the market to attract competitors consumers towards his products and services. To remain comepetitive a company must consider who their competitors are while considering its own size and position in the industry. e.g.: reliance fresh, big bazaar…

Types of competitors Generic/ purpose competitors : These are competitors who can satisfy a particular need or requirement of the buyers. e.g.: to satisfy the need of transportation one might acquire a car, a motorbike or a bus. The manufacturers or traders of the above vehicles are competitors for transportation.

A generic competitor for the iPad is the Google Chromebook A generic competitor for the iPad is the Google Chromebook. This is a very different product from the iPad, but it attempts to satisfy the same basic customer need. The Chromebook, or essentially, any other cheap laptop, gets the job done. It isn’t a tablet, but it can do everything a tablet is capable of – browse the web, email, watch movies, etc. It is about $250, which is a decent price for such a device.

Product competitors: When the competition is narrower and concentrates on the product form, they are called Product competitors. e.g.: In continuity with the above, a car has various product forms like sports car, four wheel drive car, rally cars etc. Manufacturers of the above becomes product competitors

A product competitor for the iPad is the Kindle Fire A product competitor for the iPad is the Kindle Fire. This device competes in the same product class, but can be seen as an iPad alternative. It too is a tablet, but it costs much less, at around $200. In addition, the Kindle Fire is marketed with different features compared to the iPad, such as a huge library of readily available TV shows, books, and movies. The iPad tends to stress its large networks within the App store. These apps go much further beyond TV shows and books; they concentrate on utility and games.

Brand Competitors: Once the product is chosen with specification then the buyer will choose between different brands and such marketers become brand competitors e.g.: in four wheel drive there are many brands like Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi.

A brand competitor for the iPad is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10. 1 A brand competitor for the iPad is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. Both Samsung and Apple are competing in the same market with their products offering similar features and benefits, along with similar prices. The rival tablets are roughly of similar size and offer similar functions to the user. Their beginning cost is approximately $500 for the base model. Prices become even more comparable when a customer starts adding features like cellular or more gigabytes to their device. Competitors in its healthy form is desirable for every marketer to succeed and it could be in the form of price and non-price competition.