Marketing Mix
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Marketing Concepts
Assignment 1 – The Marketing of Business
This essay will be divided into four parts. The first two parts will be composed of two interviews to business owners/managers, with the objective of their explaining how they identify and provide for their customers needs. The next two parts will be made up of three interviews each, asking customers of the previous businesses if their needs have been fulfilled.
Interview with The Big Chill Bar manager – Alex Greenwood
For the first company we have chosen The Big Chill Bar that is situated on Dray Walk off Brick Lane, London E1 6QL. The Big Chill Bar has a relaxed atmosphere with various art exhibitions, music and media events, opening seven days a week. We interviewed the bar manager Lisa Alexanderson (P.C. E16QL) so that she would provide us with sufficient information on how their company identify and cover customers needs. In order to obtain this information, we asked her the 4 Ps. In response to our questions she replied that the product provided in her bar was of high quality, presented in a modern manner, that is, in accordance with the trendy upbeat area where the bar is situated. As for the pricing, she commented that the prices were slightly above average due to the high quality service provided. Being a bar, the manager of this company had no response to the placement of the product they sell because customers can purchase it at the bar. As for promotion, The Big Chill Bar has a website and features in many London food and drink guides. Besides, they also distribute flyers around Hoxton area.
Interview with Rough Trade manager – Min Park
Last Monday, my colleague Max and I visited “Rough Trade”, a small record store in Brick Lane(E1 6QL) where surrounded busy restaurants, bars and clubs. It touched our curiosity as to why a record store would be located admits this busy scene. And our chat with the store manager (Steve Willson, E1) led to an interview.He told us that “Rough Trade” actually originates from the Gay sex industry scene; “Rough Trade” is a term used to describe a sadistic homosexual male prostitute.He said, “What we stand for is good music, we are an independent store, we are not giving into the big store chains, or wish to pander to the mass market. We simply want to promote great music and share our knowledge with people who love music. We have two stores, one is in Notting hill, and the other is on Brick Lane.”Originally Rough Trade started off in Covent Garden, however the record label and store split in 1985, and although the two are still closely linked, business wise are completely separated. Price wise: we are not cheaper than the other leading store. Chain stores just focus on the price, and have forgotten that buying and experience new music is a social and enjoyable experience.He said “We want people to come and spend the afternoon in here, listen to stuff that theyve never heard before. We chose this location because its such a vibrant place. Theres so much culture here, ART, music and theatre is taking place here all the time. With loads of great clubs around, this is where the new music gets introduced – so this is a perfect place for us.” When I asked him about promotion, he replied, “We dont really do much promotion apart from a few magazine articles here and there. People usually discover us through the website (www.roughtrade.com) or our association with the records label and bands give us enough promotion. We do hold a few events as well, like gigs and preview listens to forthcoming albums.”
Interview with customers of The Big Chill Bar – Rania Gueneid
“Marketing is about giving customers what they want” (Brassington & Pettit,
2006, Principals of Marketing, 3rd edition, Pearson Education). This is achieved when the owner keeps his four Ps (product, price, place, promotion) in good condition. According to the customers interviewed in the Big Chill Bar, this is the case. Customers, both elderly and teenagers, find the drinks and food acceptable. Dishes and cutlery are fairly clean and presentable. Further more,