Briefly I will recap on the four P’s of marketing; product, promotion, price, and place. A product according to marketing is a good, service, or idea. Promotion is advertising, publicity, public relations, and personal selling. Examples of price are tuition, rent, fees, dues, wages, and interest for example. Places in most cases are stores or purchasing over the internet. Also the orientation of a product must be remembered i.e.; production based (just getting the product out there and being more manufacturing based), sales (commonly based in clothing or cars), and the marketing orientation (which is based on pleasing the customer and employing values).
The four P’s relate how I shop in some regard but I also ignore other parts of the four P’s that other consumers may pay attention to. As a consumer I pay attention to the product, place, and sometimes the promotion but I tend to ignore the promotion part of it unless it’s a certain circumstance such as a good sale but as professor Johnson stated sometimes sales are a tool used after raising prices as an illusion to customers. The other situation is if there is a product that I really would like and I need to purchase it before it sells out. When a product is highly advertized that is most likely to happen rather than a product that isn’t as heavily advertized.
I choose a good product if it is durable and lasts and if there is a reasonable amount of research and quality put in the product. I am a consumer who is willing to pay more for something that will last a number of years rather than buying something cheaper that won’t last a year. I am a bit pickier with a service. When dealing with a service people are involved and if they are rude, irritate me in some way, sell me something I do not want, or do a poor job I will not hesitate to firmly reprimand them for what they did wrong, boycott the company completely, or in the case of bad service at a restaurant not tipping them since the tip is a commission for their good service. Since I’ve been a waitress for six years I know the field and that kind of treatment is unacceptable. So in other words I will be very liberal about buying a product but be more firm in dealing with a service. An idea in marketing may also seem like a service, the two are similar but are not exactly the same. Some examples of ideas are counseling, music lessons, weight loss programs, becoming a member of a church, or a non-profit organization. On this I stand in the middle but if someone was to take my money and not give me a good service I would not go to them anymore. For example I went to a voice teacher who charged me 60 dollars an hour for lessons and did not teach me anything, she liked to talk the whole time, which only lasted 2-3 sessions until I stopped going to her. As far as ideas go it’s far more difficult to tell in getting what you want as a consumer because it isn’t always tangible and the rates are usually high so the consumer can get abused in this regard. It is best to use your gut reaction if you are getting something out of it or feel fulfilled in making the choice on ideas.
Of the four P’s the one that weighs the most heavily on me is primarily the product as I stated I’m very rigorous on the quality of the product. Secondarily the location because I get annoyed with customer service representatives in stores so I mostly shop over the internet, and lastly price because sometimes products are priced outrageously high. I usually ignore the promotion. I don’t see many advertisements in general unless they are over the internet or on billboards.
When picking a product’s price I usually pay a little higher than the normal rate for a product but not the top. For example a sweater at Wal-mart or Target for 20-35 dollars. But I would pay up to 40-60 for a good quality sweater but not 100-200 for a sweater. So I tend to choose the upper end of the middle of the spectrum.
Promotion is a case that I chose to ignore but if the product is promoted using propaganda or promotes in an immoral regard I usually get so disgusted with the product that I want nothing to do with it. If the product is promoted in a sophisticated, glamorous, upscale, or refined way I will be more opt to purchase it.
Lastly the way I choose a location is usually no more than an hour or two drive when I am at home (meaning not on a vacation where there are outlet stores). For example I could shop in Keene, NH Brattleboro, VT Greenfield, MA Hadley, MA Northampton, MA Holyoke, MA or Springfield, MA but I wouldn’t go much further on normal circumstances. The more I want the product the further I would go but if the product isn’t imperative to have. As I said previously if people are rude and annoying, the customers themselves annoy me such as stop in front of me and make my shopping experience awful I will be more opt to shop online.
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