Marketing Ethics

Ethical Consideration within the Retail Sector – Marketing Ethics

Many companies and businessmen often face obstacles as to what practices can ethically be done in order to make money or achieve objectives (Marketing Ethics). Fraud and deception taken up by some companies is not only wrong in the moral sense but restricts the prosperity of the economy as a whole. These practices although may not be illegal in a given geographical boundary yet it cannot be undertaken with a clear conscience.

From a customer’s view point the retailing is the first tie in the distribution chain. Hence it is essential for retailers to be ethical in business practices as they affect the lives of many people. Ethical decisions have a strong significance when it comes to ensuring order and justice in a society. However, difficulty persists as to what falls under the folds of order and justice. In the retail industry, the one department often criticized for unethical actions in business is the marketing department. This negativity can be attributed to the fact that marketing tends to represent the most noticeable department to the public at large. For instance, fabricated pricing, misleading advertisements and deceiving sales pitches from sales personnel often result in hurt or angry customers as well as the media.

Moral constraints persist in the dynamics of marketing functions. For instance, contemporary marketing experts often debate that deceitful marketing is bound to be unsuccessful as the market will shove those who disrupt the common morality. Ethics depicts a form of social control, which is especially critical to the individual customers, the salespeople and the organisation itself. Marketing ethics gives birth to a more socially responsible and culturally penetrating business community. The adherence to marketing ethics has the prospective of being favorable to the society as a whole in the short as well as the long run term; therefore it should be a substantial part of any business model.

There is a pressing concern towards ethical issues, such as poor working conditions, child labor, associations with third world countries, green issues, grey imports and environmental concerns which have led to a change in attitude of the western world to consider a more socially responsible approach. The societal marketing concept stresses the need for organizations to achieve a balance between satisfying customers, achieving profits and maintain the well-being of the society; when making marketing decisions. An organization can play a role in creating a positive impact on the society if it produces useful products in an environmental friendly manner.

Over the years, organizations have evolved and realized their social responsibilities. Organizational social commitment consists of four kinds of responsibilities: legal, economic, philanthropic and ethical. These four classifications have been in existence for decades; however, in recent years social and ethical dimensions have attained increasing importance. Firms come into being to provide goods and services with an aim to maximize profits. In their efforts to attain maximum profits they often forget their responsibilities towards the society. Consumers these days place pressing importance on the need to protect the environment and hence this has put pressure on companies to realize their responsibilities and act in the favor of the society as well satisfying the customers and looking after the well-being of the society in which they operate.

Ethical Considerations

Green issues

Every business has a two-way relationship with the society. While the business contributes to the society in the form of products and services, the society provides an environment for the businesses to flourish and grown in. Since, the survival of a business depends upon the society, businesses need to perform in a manner that does not harm the environment but is useful to it. For example, companies need to be conscious of the environment they operate in and thoughtful about issues such as ozone layer depletion and global warming. Until recently, cfc (chlorofloro-carbon) which leads to the damaging of the ozone layer was used in the manufacturing of refrigerator compressors in most countries. However, today many companies have adopted various alternatives to cfc and banned its use from production processes. Companies should also take notice of fair practices when it comes to employment such as providing equal employment opportunities to everyone and a safe and fit work environment along with fair compensation packages.

Sourcing of products

Companies operating with global supply chains came under immense pressure by the consumer groups, trade union and the government in the 1990’s to ensure healthy working conditions for those producing their goods in the less developed countries. Various media campaigns have been carried out which shed light on the poor working environment in factories in the less developing countries emphasizing the need for marketing ethics and trading.

This has resulted in the growing importance of marketing ethics in the corporate responsibility agenda of major corporations. Many companies today have established social and environmental criteria for the selection of their business ventures; which includes securing appropriate standards for the labor conditions and work environment in their supply chain. Also, corporate codes of practice are being implemented so as to their ventures according to a range of social and environmental criteria, including an organisation’s efforts to secure adequate labor conditions in their supply chain, and retailers are increasingly implementing corporate codes of practice so as to certify that the working conditions of the labor involved in the production of their goods meet or exceed international labor standards.

For example, Primark’s rating fell in the consumer polls drastically in 2008 after it was discovered that a few of Primark’ suppliers were using child labor. On the other hand, Marks & Spencer had a high rating in consumer polls due to their –‘plan A’ initiative, which comprised of performing life-cycle assessment on their clothing and included carrying out life-cycle assessments on their clothing and developing a clothes recycling arrangement with Oxfam. Primark changing its suppliers and creating a website for the promotion of marketing ethics and its ethical trading records as a comeback for the child labor allegations highlights the significance of showing customers that you are sourcing responsibly.

Product Safety

Every day, a variety of new goods are produced and sold in different geographical boundaries and on virtual markets i.e. online. Increased trading and more refined designs can make it challenging to determine the products consumer purchases are safe for them or not. Product safety is an ethical obligation for every company in the retail business as they have a responsibility to provide consumers with products of value that they pay for and that are safe for use.

An example can be taken of the Yamaha group; it ensures that products and services are not harmful in any way to the consumer’s well-being. If an issue of the sort arises it is immediately dealt with and steps are taken to compensate and prevent the recurrence. In the contemporary retail industry online trading has reached its apex. However, new online products could often be unsafe and cause serious injuries or death if they fail to meet safety standards. Consumers cannot assess the products safety, toughness and inspect labels as the goods are not physically available when purchasing online. Second-hand products available online could also be unsafe as they may fail to meet the desired standards, have damaged or missing parts vital for safe operation, may not be sold with a manual for safe use and assembly instructions or may have been modified by the prior owner causing it to be unsafe.

Grey Imports

Products that are sold through non-authorized channels are known as “grey or parallel imports’. These grey imports may appear to be cheap on surface, yet they may be far from cheap when it comes to compliance issues being addressed. They raise financial as well as safety concerns for the purchasers. As these products are not imported with the consent of the manufacturer they do not fall under the manufacturer’s warranty.

Also since these non-authorized products may not pass through regular safety checks that authorized products do they could have potential harmful impact on oneself and one’s family. Moreover, no after sales support is provided as dealer and brokers are not allowed to provide service and spare parts to grey imports which mean maintenance cannot be done by specialized professionals. Grey or parallel imports often have little or no value when reselling as compared to authorized products.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The concept of corporate social responsibility is very often linked with the concept of business ethics. Therefore, the main aim of many retailers’ ethics is focused upon the role ethical responsibility plays in order to contribute to the sustainable economic development; healthy work environment for employees, safe society for individuals, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life. Marketing and marketers play an imperative part in the growth of corporate strategy and respond to the corporate social responsibility agenda.

Business organizations make use of scarce resources in order to produce goods and services to satisfy the customers. To carry out these activities companies need to be cost effective, innovative productive in operations. In order to become successful companies should portray sensitivity to the expectations of the customers when it comes to social issues and environmental well-being (Kotler, 2003). In order to be operating in a socially responsible manner organizations should be concerned for the people and the environment in which the business activity takes place. It is expected that firms that are socially responsible will outperform those less responsible financially in the long run. This can be as a result of customer loyalty and trust, better employee morale or public policies in favor of ethical conduct and overall marketing ethics.

According to an article by Lichtenstein and et al., theory and recent evidence indicated by researchers suggests that a corporation that is socially responsible can have a relatively positive effect on customer attitudes towards the particular corporation (Lichtenstein and et al, 2004). International companies take initiative by donating millions of dollars to non-profit organizations in the form of philanthropy, cause related marketing, employee voluntarism and various novel marketing programs. An example can be of Avon, cosmetic company which raised $200 million for education regarding breast cancer and early diagnosis services through breast cancer awareness crusade.

Consumer’s Perception

Consumers are in need of ways to attain information about the products and services they purchase without having the expertise to judge. The fact that consumers are not well-informed anymore and neither are they self-sufficient; both have a significant impact on the the importance of business ethics when dealing with consumers. Firstly, there was a time when customers could analyze and judge on their own whether the quality of a product or service was up to mark. However, now products and services are created by experts with specialized skills. This results in difficulty to judge the quality by a layman, hence companies need to be honest with the consumers and tell them if the product is of acceptable quality standards and performs the functions they need it for. Secondly, people were self-sufficient previously and could produce what they needed to in order to survive on their own. This situation has changed as people have become progressively dependent on goods that have been created by experts, machinery and high quality resources. As a result the customer has little choice but to accept the product as an honest one and trust the organization’s intentions. Hence, this makes it essential for the companies to look out for what falls under the best interest of their customers.

Other Socially Responsible Clothing Retailers

Marks and Spencer is a British retailer which specializes in clothing items and luxury food products. In 2007, this retailing giant announced a five-year plan which made serious vows and commitments to becoming “a carbon neutral, zero-waste-to-landfill, ethical-trading, sustainable-sourcing, health-promoting business.” ASOS is the second largest online retailer in the world, and its brand under the name of green room acts as a podium devoted to collections with an ethical or eco-conscious story to tell. Offering a range of organic recycled and fair trade clothing, accessories, footwear and beauty, ASOS green room makes it easy to shop more responsibly without the sharp price tag. As of 2012, H&M has raised over $4.5 million USD, through a 5 year partner program with UN charity organization UNICEF. Starting in February 2013, H&M will offer patrons a voucher in exchange for used garments. Donated garments will be processed by I:CO, a retailer that recycles used clothing with the goal of creating a zero-waste economy. The initiative is similar to a clothes-collection voucher program launched in April 2012 by Marks & Spencer in partnership with Oxfam.

Marketing Ethics Conclusion

Companies have a moral obligation towards their consumers or potential customers. They must not be deceitful and sell products that are safe for the users. However, it is not entirely clear as to what is morally preferable and where does the advertising cross the overly deceptive boundary and the extent of harm that manipulative advertising can do to people. Hence, it is better to be on the safe side and take extra precautions where the well-being of human life is concerned.

The responsibilities of a business are further illustrated in the steps that should be taken by manufacturers in order to ensure that goods of acceptable safety standards are provided to customers. Firstly business should give priority to safety. If costs are being raised in order to meet safety requirements that does not mean they should dismiss it. Products that may lead to serious injuries are often are often the ones that need the highest safety standards.

Secondly, businesses should take responsibility of any accidents caused by the product rather than blame it on product misuse. Consumers should be made aware about the proper usage of products that have a tendency to be harmful. Some consumers can still be harmed if they use products appropriately. Also, if products are continuously being misused there should be ways to make the misusing of it less harmful to the user.

Thirdly, business must monitor and check the manufacturing process on its own. Often products produced are defected as a result of mismanagement in the manufacturing process. Companies must keep a check on its activities and have a quality control team to ensure that safe and non-defected products pass through to the consumers. Sometimes external quality assessment teams or companies can be hired for an unbiased testing process.

Fourthly, when a product is prepared to be marketed, companies should have a product safety staff in-line to assess the market strategy and advertising for potential safety problem. How a product is being used in an advertisement can have a significant impact in encouraging people to use the product that way. Hence, advertisers should refrain from portraying the usage of product in a harmful manner such as showing people driving cars while texting at the same time.

Fifthly, when a product lands in the marketplace, firms should make sure that written information about the products performance is readily available to the consumers. In order to ensure the product is used in the proper manner and not misused information should be explained in detail about its proper use and made public. Warning labels are found on many products as a result of this. Lastly, companies should investigate and respond to consumer complaints. Consumers being the users can provide a good source of product safety testing and complaints can help the company determine where it lacks and what safety standards the product may lack.

In conclusion, it can be determined that the contemporary retail industry has evolved over the past decade. Previously little importance was given to matters of environmental well-being; the main objective being to maximize profits no matter what the impact it had on one’s surroundings. However, the situation is more subtle now with the consumer becoming more conscious of the environment and sensitive towards its sustainability. Retail businesses have realized the need to be socially responsible in order to gain the consumers trust, loyalty and to satisfy the market. It may incur a cost yet the outcome is far reaching for the overall growth and sustainability of not only the business but the society as a whole.

References

Gundlach, G.T. and Murphy, P.E. (1993), “Ethical and legal foundations of relational marketing ethics exchanges”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 35-46.

Kotler, P. 2003. A Framework for Marketing Ethics Management. (11^th Ed). Pearson Custom Publishing.

Lichtenstein, Donald R., Minette E. Drumwright, and Bridgette M. Braig. 2004. “The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Donations to Corporate-Supported Nonprofits.”Journal of Marketing 68 (October): 16-33.

Murphy, P.E., Laczniak, G.R., Bowie, N.E. and Klein, T.A. (2005), Marketing Ethics, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Nantel, J. and Weeks, W.A. (1996), “Marketing Ethics is there more to it than the utilitarian approach?” European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 5, pp. 9-19.

Urban, G.L. (2005a), “Customer advocacy: a new era in marketing?”, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 24, Spring, pp. 155-9.

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Marketing Plan Essay

Marketing Plan

In this essay the discussion focuses mainly on the importance of a marketing plan and the role it plays for the development of businesses. In due course the nature of a marketing plan and the key elements of it are also discussed. Whether the elements of a marketing plan are linked or independent? This key issue is discussed elaborately explaining the links between different elements of the marketing plan.

A marketing plan is different from a business plan and these differences are also highlighted in this essay. The essay would not be considered complete if the misconceptions about a marketing plan are not discussed. There are some misconceptions prevailing about marketing plan and they are discussed briefly in the essay. The essay has been concluded with a brief summary of the discussion made here.

Role and nature of marketing plan

Before discussing role and nature of a marketing plan it is important to understand what is marketing. Marketing is a function of an organization which involves several processes of creation, communication and delivery of value to customers and management of customer relationship in such a order that the organization as well as its stakeholders are benefited.

In other words, it is a process to identify, anticipate and satisfy customer with profit. It is science and art to create change in the market for the benefit of the organization. Understanding the need and want of the market and to earn profit is called marketing. Marketing is done with a strategic plan (Hatch & Schulz, 2003).

A marketing plan is a written document describing the external and internal business environment, aims and objectives of the organization, its strategy, plan of action and control. Marketing plans for different companies vary according to the requirements and the strategy of the company.

Occasionally some companies have only one plan and they call it a business plan but a business plan includes plans of all the functions performed by a company like Research & Development, Production, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, IT as well as Marketing. Hence, a marketing plan is only a part of a business plan (Einwiller & Will, 2002).

A marketing plan is built on the strengths of an organization to exploit it for the maximum benefit of the organization. An integrated and well coordinated marketing plan makes an organization proactive and not reactive. It successfully communicates the purposes and the intent of the senior management. It sets the objectives for actions and it is target oriented. A written plan provides the scope for adjustments (if needed) and monitoring of marketing activities.

Besides these reasons marketing plans are used for understanding the needs and wants of the customers for their satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the prime objective of any marketing plan and that can be measured by meeting their needs and wants efficiently. Needs and wants change with time. Hence, a satisfied customer may be dissatisfied tomorrow with the change in need and want. This makes marketing a rigorous and continuous process. (Ferrel and Hartline, 2005).

A marketing plan is based on the information and data from various sources and lack of reliable data is one of the biggest difficulty in making a marketing plan. Complete firm’s picture, product line, present and future of the situation, internal and external environment and customer satisfaction are the key features of a marketing plan. Structure of a marketing plan vary from company to company. (Mathewson, 2009). Generally a marketing plan is structured in the following manner:

Executive Summary

Challenges

Situation Analysis

Customer Analysis
- Concentration of customer base for particular products
- Decision Process
- Value Drivers
- Type
- Numbers
- Company Analysis
  - Focus
  - Strengths
  - Weaknesses
  - Market Share
  - Goal
  - Culture
  - Climate
    - Economic Environment
    - Technological Environment
    - Political and Legal Environment
    - Social and Cultural Environment
    - Collaborators
    - SWOT Analysis

Following environmental factors are needed to be organized for the SWOT analysis of a business environment

Strengths and weaknesses of the organization should be considered as internal attributes or internal environment
Opportunities and Threats are to be considered as external attribute or external environment
Competitor Analysis
- Market Share
- Market Position
- Strengths
- Weaknesses

Market Segmentation

Segment 1
- Description
- Sales percentage
- Wants of the customer
- Way of using the product
- Support
- Way of reaching them
- Price
- Segment 2
  - ABC

Alternative marketing strategies

Selected marketing strategy

Product

Brand
Quality
Scope
Warranty
Packaging

Price

Price list
Discounts
Terms of payments
Financial options
Options for lease

Distribution (Place)

Channels for distribution as intermediaries, distributors, retail and direct
Motivation of channels
Evaluation of channels
Locations
Logistics as supply, transportation, warehousing, etc.

Promotion

Promotional programs
Public relation
Advertisement
Budgeting
Estimating results of promotions

Long term and short term projections

Conclusion

Appendix

Exhibits

Recommended reading

In some cases the structure of the marketing plan of a company is not as detailed and extensively elaborated as above and it is short and simple but focused. It depends on the size and the need of a company. Even a simple marketing plan should be structured as follows:

Summary of Strategic Situation

Objectives and Targets

Positioning

Budget

Sales projections

Strategy for product

Strategy for price

Strategy for distribution

Strategy for communications

Market research

Conclusion

A marketing plan is used to serve the end result of building a customer base and creating an environment which could lead a company to success. It serves other functions as well such as a marketing plan is used for introduction of a new product into market, for exploring new markets for a product, for setting up gals and targets and achieving it and for establishing, directing and coordinating between sales and marketing efforts of a company. The potential differences between different structures of marketing plans depend on the nature of the business of the company and their requirements. The end results are same for all the marketing plans.

Elements of marketing plan and links between them

The key elements of a marketing plan are Executive Summary, Challenges, Situation Analysis, Market Segmentation, Alternative marketing strategies, Selected marketing strategy, Product, Price, Distribution (Place), Promotion and Long term and short term projections. These elements are interdependent and complementary to each other.

Executive summary is the brief overview of the content of a marketing plan. It describes the objectives of the plan. It has the description of the strategies of the company for marketing, Before discussing the plan and the strategies for marketing in detail the marketing managers prefer to discuss the challenges which may come across in marketing or the challenges of the market for the company. The business world is changing very fast and the growing competition in the business world is reducing the margins of the businesses and extensive marketing is required to meet this challenge which is again very expensive. Challenges can only be tackled in favorable situation which further requires situation analysis (Hatch & Schulz, 2003).

Situation analysis is done to understand various situations or it can be said that situation analysis is of several types like customer analysis, company analysis and climate analysis. Customer analysis involves factors like number of existing customers and expected number of new customers, types of customers, decision process of customers, value drivers for customers and finally the concentration of customer base for particular products (Einwiller & Will, 2002).

The end result of a marketing plan is satisfaction of customer and customer analysis is a very important. Analysis of company means study of strengths and weaknesses of the company, the market share of a company for a particular product, the culture of the company because the output of a company also depends on its culture, the goal of the company and the focus the company has to achieve that goal. Then comes climate which means environment of different types like economic environment, political and legal environment, social and cultural environment and technological environment. In some marketing plans they are also analyzed as external and internal environment (Ferrel and Hartline, 2005).

Collaborators are also called as stakeholders by marketing managers. Stakeholders may have stakes in the company in different ways that is why there are different types of stakeholders. Stakeholders range from customer to the top management of the company which includes workers, employees, suppliers and many others and a good marketing plan must not overlook their stakes. The company keeps the required data about its stakeholders for various purposes including making a marketing plan (Mathewson, 2009).

SWOT analysis means study of strengths and weaknesses as well as study of opportunities and threats. A good marketing plan must analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company, product as well as customers. Similarly it should analyze the opportunities for the company, product and the opportunity of the market. Opportunities never come without threats and it will be mistake if the threats are not analyzed in a marketing plan. For SWOT analysis information are needed to be collected from both the internal sources of the company and from the market (Freeman, 1984).

There is hardly any business without competitor and the success of a marketing plan substantially depends on the proper analysis of the competitors. Marketing managers must know the position of the competitor in the market, the market share of competitor for a particular product or different products and strengths and weaknesses of the competitor.

Marketing mangers divide the market into different segments and the process is called market segmentation. Needs and wants of all the markets are not same and the market managers have to analyze which segment of the market is useful for a particular product. The factors needed to be kept in mind for market segmentation are the percentage of sales in that segment, description of the segment, what do the customer need or want, how do they use the product, how to reach them, whether the price is suitable for them, etc. They need to collect the information from the external sources. (Mullins, Walker, Boyd and Larreche, 2005)

Every plan should have an alternative plan which can be used if needed. Efficient and experienced marketing managers always ready with an alternative marketing plan. The plan which they execute is called selected plan. Marketing plans have detailed description of the factors like product, price, promotion, distribution, etc (Mullins, Walker, Boyd and Larreche, 2005).

Product is the key factor of the marketing plan and it revolves around it. Ultimately product is the tool through which the company reaches to customers and wishes to satisfy them meeting their needs and wants. It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to ensure branding f the product and to analyze the quality of the product and the scope for it in the market, Proper packaging of the product with genuine warranty adds value to it. After all it is the product only which decides the success and failure of a company.

Price is another key factor and it should be relevant to the market, customer and the competitor. Customers always prefer quality product at affordable price. The marketing managers offer some options for the market to make the offers attractive. They offer discounts, different payment options, financial support and sometimes options for lease. All these information should be provided clearly in the pricelist (Jones, 2005).

Distribution ensures the success of a product and alternatively of a company. All these efforts of marketing will go waste if an adequate system of distribution is not set up. Distribution of products is done by various methods like making channels for distribution such as distributing through intermediaries, distributors, retail or direct. These network need to be evaluated regularly for its proper functioning and the stakeholders associated with the distribution network must be kept motivated. The selection of location for the network should be done carefully and proper care of regular supply, transportation and warehousing must be taken (Dickson, 1996).

Last but not the least another key factor of marketing is promotion and promotion is done by following promotional programs, making public relation, advertisement, budgeting and finally estimating the results of promotion.

Some elements of a marketing plan are interlinked while others are independent. For example, challenges can be estimated by understanding the situation and pricing can be done by valuing the product and the promotion of the product is done (Freeman, 1984).

Assumptions

There are many misconceptions about marketing plan. The most common misconception of customers is that they generally think that the companies make marketing plans to manipulate things and the aim is to deceive. In fact, a marketing plan is made to ensure satisfaction to customers. The aim of a marketing plan is to reach to the customer to satisfy his needs at the affordable price. The advertisement sometimes becomes illusionary and creates confusion (Jones, 2005).

The most common misconception of companies is that a marketing plan and its implementation is an expensive and difficult to measure process to evaluate the return on investment on it. Actually a perfect marketing plan ensures tangible return on it. A marketing plan is made by marketing manager after extensive research and it is aimed to ensure success and earn profitability for the organization. Companies think that investment in marketing plan can be made only if the cash flow allows for it. In fact, marketing plan is the factor which ensures the cash flow and projects in advance the rate of cash flow if planned and implemented efficiently (Dickson, 1996).

Conclusion

A marketing plan is a key to success for any business but unfortunately many businesses confuse marketing plans with investment on advertisements with no assured returns. A marketing plan is a simple act of bringing products and services to market and providing right message to right person at right time. Actually marketing plan can only assure the success of a business by guiding businesses to follow the processes required for its success. Those processes include how to analyze marketing environment, how to decide marketing segment, how to choose the marketing mix. Marketing mix includes five important Ps of a marketing plan. They are Product, Price, Promotion, Place and Process.

References

Hatch M. J. & Schulz, M. 2003. Bringing the corporation into corporate branding. European Journal of Marketing, Vol 37(7/8), pp; 1041-64.

Einwiller, S. & Will, M. 2002. Towards an integrated approach to corporate branding – an empirical study. Corporate Communications, Vol 7(2), pp; 100-9.

Ferrel, O. and Hartline, M. 2005. Marketing Strategy, 3rd Edt.Thomson

Mathewson R. 2009. Misconceptions about Marketing, Maple Marketing

Dickson, P.R. 1996. The static and dynamic mechanics of competition: a comment on Hunt and Morgan’s comparative advantage theory. Journal of Marketing | October 1, pp; 102 –

Freeman, R. 1984. Strategic Management: a stakeholder approach, Boston

Jones, R. 2005. Finding sources of brand value: Developing a stakeholder model of brand equity. Journal of Brand Management, Vol 13(1), pp; 43-63.

Mullins,J., Walker Jr, O., Boyd Jr, H. and Larreche, J. 2005. Marketing Management: A Decision-Making Approach, 5th Edt, McGraw-Hill / Irwuin, Sydney

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Brand Loyalty Customer Behavior

How does Brand Loyalty Influence Customer Behavior?

The rise in living standards, ease of accessibility to finance coupled with a wide variety to choose from has made consumer durable market to grow with a rapid rate. Many players are getting into the market. With the advances in communication and technology, new lifestyles and the quest to appear young and beautiful, the demand for quality beauty products has increased significantly. Consumer quality sector is characterized by the emergence of exchange offers, discounts and intensive competition. People nowadays want to imitate in regards to dressing, language, and politics among other lifestyle aspects. The increasing population is bombarded with information about maintaining a youthful look, making women seek for cosmetics that suit them. With this knowledge in mind, beauty manufacturing product companies make every effort to brand them to capture the booming market. Companies are competing on the basis of firm grasp of the local and international market, their well acknowledged brands and hold over wide distribution network. The penetration level of consumer products remains high.

This research is scoped down to understand the relationship between consumer behavior and brand loyalty, factors affecting consumer decision making, the role of brand loyalty in consumer durable goods and the position of the individual consumer in the segment. The path forward will be to study the secondary data for industry overview, collect primary data for more insight and derive conclusions based on primary and secondary data. The research findings will be addressed based on the theories of consumer buying behavior and brand loyalty.

Organizations must engage in making strategic decisions that are capable of improving the firms’ image so that they can have an advantage over competitors. To be specific, these image enhancing strategies ensure that the organization increase the loyalty of the current customers. In addition, the image enhancing strategies should help in the attraction of new customers to the organization. Strategic decisions that can bring enhanced image to the organization have included the selection of target markets, and modification of products to suit the demands of the customers. Other strategic decisions on prices, location of products and services, promotional efforts, and operating policies help in improving the organizations’ image.

The implementation of these strategies ensures that there is a solid background for effective image in the organization. An organization’s image ensures that if there is something about it that is not known, the knowledge the customers have on the organization fills the void. The main concern of this research is to determine whether the perception about the brand image affects customer behavior.

Research Objectives

The interest of the research is to determine if brand loyalty influences consumer behavior. This study would be of value to those organizations concerned about the society and those concerned with the attaining off the highest possible profit. Further, the study aims to find if consumers have positive attitudes for those organizations that improve their brand loyalty and social responsibility.

Specific research objectives include:

To find the relationship between consumer behavior and brand loyalty.
To find out whether consumer behavior leads to change in the brand image quality, for instance, product quality or service quality.
The influence of customer satisfaction on the brand’s image
Does consumer behavior affect brand image?
Does consumer behavior lead to change in the brand image quality?
Does customer satisfaction affect brand image?

Literature Review

The main focus of this study is to measure the attitudes of customers in relation to brand loyalty and to ascertain its influence of this attitude on brand loyalty. Study of attitudes enables organization managers to answer questions as to why a consumer purchased one product over another. The understanding of the consumer attitude towards particular products ensures that they come up with strategies and decisions on major products and market decisions.

The image associated with a particular product or service ensures that it has a competitive advantage over other products and services. A company’s brand is valuable strategic asset in achieving goals and objectives. Brand loyalty can be referred to as the consumer decision; whether conscious or unconscious concerning the use of a product or service. It may also refer to the intention to buy or use a particular product for a long duration of time. Brand loyalty is achieved due to the right features, and the quality of the brand. Quality of the product must be at the right price for the consumer to perceive the brand as being loyal to their needs. Organizations can change consumer behavior concerning a particular product or service through advertising. Advertising ensures that consumers acquire new habits, and instill those habits by telling the consumers how the product is of value to their money. Consumers should also be encouraged to continue using the products and services in the future (Hoyer and Maclnnis, 2008, p. 27).

According to Pride and Ferrel (2008, p.123), the main reason why organizations do not have strong brand loyalty is because they are not familiar with various ways of disseminating a strong and clear message that distinguishes their product with that of the competitor. In addition, the message should distinguish the product in a positive and memorable manner. The major challenge of organizations is to avoid the disadvantages of portraying a particular product or service as having negative image. An organization’s image should not be viewed in terms of the product and service attributes; the organization’s philosophies concerning environmental management, philanthropy, and ethical considerations are critical in influencing consumer behavior.

Societal Conscious Marketing

Most organizations have adopted marketing strategies that focus on societal needs. Each of these strategies is philosophical or operational concepts used by organizational leaders to enhance the objectives of their businesses. The following are some of the concepts widely used in organizations (Phillips, 2010, p. 45).

Product concept: products should be produced in large volumes since all of it can be sold to the consumers
Selling concept; products can only be consumed if they are heavily promoted
Product concept; consumers will buy high quality products that are within their price range
Marketing concept: specific customer demands can only be met if organization produces products that are equal or better than those of the competitor. In addition, the products should be priced lower than the competitor.
Societal marketing concept: This term involves marketing in a manner that does not harm the society, people, and the environment. Societal marketing concept is motivated by the need to satisfy direct customers and other constituents in the market.

Brand loyalty can be exercised in several ways. The main activities that organizations can do to improve brand loyalty include environmental friendly activities, philanthropy, ethical activities with local, national, and international communities, customers, and employees. Environmentally friendly activities can include recycling, waste reduction, and other strategies aimed at minimizing the organization’s impact on the environment. Philanthropic activities include engaging donations of money, food, facilities, and time. These activities are classified under the title known as cause related marketing (Kahren, 2009, p.36).

Brand Loyalty

According to Dutton (1997), organizations have been turning philanthropy activities inward towards their employees. This is done through paying them in order to volunteer for their favorite charities. She asserts that words like “ethics’, honesty, truth and trust are good sentiments. She, however, notes that they mean nothing if they are not adopted by organizations. Ethical activities include using different hiring practices and employee relations such as high moral values, fair pay, equal treatment, and equal opportunity for all workers. Organizations that do not treat workers fairly have the risk of lowering their brand image. Brand image should start with internal operations; there is no point of trying to show the external clients that business ethics are good while simultaneously engaging in unethical activities towards the employees. Employees play an important role in advertising the organization to outside clients more than any other marketing strategy.

The question of how brand loyalty affects product evaluation was examined by Brown and Dacin (1997). Their study looked into the differences between the impact of organization brand loyalty which include the organization’s ability to produce and deliver quality products and services and the corporate social responsibility’s impacts on consumers. In their first research, students analyzed their hypothetical scenarios. The outcome was that brand loyalty had a significant effect on the way consumers evaluated the product attributes and the overall image of the organization. Further, the authors found out that social responsibility had no direct impact on the organization’s image. Their second study found out that social responsibility became significant predictor of product loyalty in the consumers and its evaluation.

According to Kim (1996) product demand is determined by non-product factors such as cleanliness, public relations, atmosphere, advertising and the convenience of the brands’ locations. In any organization, quality of products can be determined according to the consumer attitude towards the product with other products available to the consumer in the market.

“Perceived quality is different from objective or actual quality, a higher level abstraction rather than a specific attribute of a product, a global assessment that in some case resembles attitude, and a judgment usually made within a consumer’s evoked set” (Zeithaml, 1988, p.4).

Zeitmal further assert that few consumers are able to analyze and measure the objective properties of a product. This is because the objective assessment depends on the verifiable standards, the objective measurement can be questioned because it depends on who set the standards.

Theoretical framework

The A Priori Approach

According to Lunn (2011), the theory introduces theories and concepts from other disciplines including behavioral sciences. The value of behavioral sciences has been used in consumer knowing what the consumer wants. Well known examples are included in the manifestations of motivational research and such attitude theories as those of Festinger and Fishbein. The A Priori approach involves giving the consumer an all embracing label such as “economic man”, “problem solver”, “learner”, and “existentialist”. The strength of the a priori lies in the organization and the systematic basis of knowledge provided about certain aspects of the consumer.

Brand Loyalty Theory

According to Katz (1960), Brand loyalty theory has three distinct dimensions. The first dimension is referred to as emotive tendency towards products and services. The emotive tendency refers to the consumer likes and dislikes which is manifested on how they purchase a particular brand in the market. The second dimension is known as evaluative tendency towards products and services. Katz refers to this tendency as positively biased evaluation of a product or service. Organizations use positive characteristics to define brand utili6ty to the customers. The evaluative tendency of the product or service can also be determined from past experience in using the brand.

Behavioral tendency towards the brand is the next dimension. Katz (1960) refers to the behavior tendency as the biased responses consumers have towards a particular product or service regarding its procurement, purchase and consumption characteristics. Consumer characteristics such as shopping, paying for the product, as well as its consumption determine the behavior tendency. Behavior tendency is developed after using the product for a long period of time. In addition, behavior tendency can be developed from good or bad tendencies toward other brands.

Black Box Theory of Behaviorism

Sandhusen (2000) assert that the black box model is an interaction of several perspectives concerning a specific brand. The perspectives include the stimuli, consumer characteristics, choice patterns and consumer responses. The focus of the organization is not in the internal processes within the customer: the organization focuses on the relation between stimuli and response of the customer. Stimuli are related to the marketing characteristics developed by an organization in order to lure the customer in purchasing of the brand. The environmental stimuli are determined by social factors such as politics, economy and the culture in which the brand is to be used. The black box symbolizes the buyer characteristics and their choice patterns, which determine their response towards a particular brand.

Hypothesis

This research focuses on the various factors that influence consumers’ brand loyalty towards a given brand. From the various factors that influence brand loyalty, below are the hypothesis derived.

H1: There is a positive correlation between brand loyalty product and brand name

H2: There is a positive correlation between brand loyalty and product quality.

H3: There is a positive significant relationship between brand loyalty and product design

H4: There is a positive significant relationship between brand loyalty and product price.

H5: There is a positive correlation between brand loyalty and promotion.

H6: There is a significant correlation between service quality and brand loyalty.

H7: There is a positive significant relationship between store environment and brand loyalty.

Research Methodology

The main objective of this research was to establish how brand loyalty influences cosmetics buying behavior of UK female consumers. This section also highlights the various processes undertaken in obtaining and analyzing the information gathered for this research. This includes a description of the research design and methods used in collecting the data that were analyzed to arrive at a conclusion in the study.

Research philosophy

Based on the nature and the topic to be studied, this research will be conducted on positivist philosophy. It will be based on this philosophy because the research will involve testing of hypothesis developed from deductive theory, involving measurement of observable social realities.

Approach

This research will be conducted on deductive approach based on hypothesis testing from the data collected. Data will then be analyzed to either confirm or disapprove the hypothesis.

Data Collection Methods

Data collection will consist of surveys, filling in questionnaires and conducting interviews with cosmetic consumers and dealers in London, UK. Qualitative evaluation shall be employed in this research besides using subjective techniques such as interviews and observations to gather relevant and substantive data. Quantitative approach is preferred for this research due to the varying experiences of the consumers of these products. Upon collecting data using interviews and questionnaires, the data will then be carefully analyzed. This shall be carried out using both the One-way ANOVA and the Pearson’s guideline to establish how brand loyalty influences consumer behavior with respect to cosmetic consumption in UK.

Questionnaire Design

In this research, a questionnaire was developed, and pilot tested through personal interviews with seven senior-most managers at Superdrug, which is the second largest health and beauty retail shop in UK. The questionnaire used for collecting data was divided into two segments: the first section concerns the demographics of consumers and the second were about brand loyalty factors. This research involved sampling randomly 400 female cosmetic consumer of between 18 to 42 years of age. In order to obtain a reliable data, the survey was distributed in London City at five major cosmetic shops. The malls included L’Occitane, Jo Malone, Floris London, Boots and Screenface, in addition to Superdrug retail shop. A total of 400 usable questionnaires were then returned and collected 60% response rate.

Table 1 reveals that age composition of those aged between 18-25 years were 25% of the respondents. Yet again, the table reveals that close to half of the respondents ages varied between 27-35 years. About 26% of the respondents were between the ages of 36-42. The sample survey was almost balanced at 51% for the married and 49% for the unmarried. With regard to education level, the surveyed respondent revealed that 72% of the respondent had at least a degree and 18% having completed high school. This implies that only 10% of the respondents had postgraduate degrees.

Data Analysis

This research used the One-way ANOVA to establish whether there is any significant correlation between independent variables (product quality, brand name, design, price, service quality, promotion, and store environment) and age and income the consumers interviewed. The main reason for adopting the One-way ANOVA as the most appropriate tool is that it was found to be the best for testing the hypothesis when at least two groups are measured on an interval scale. The purpose of the One-way ANOVA is to show the degree of variability of the sample values taken by considering to what extent the observation within each group differs and how much the group means differ. Apart from the One –Way ANOVA, the researchers also found it appropriate to use the Pearson Correlation for purposes of analyzing the relationship between the two variables, which are both ratio and interval-scaled. This is based on the fact that the correlation coefficients determined using the Pearson’s guideline is used to establish the degree and direction of the correlation, which is suitable for hypothesis testing. In this regard, the research used Pearson correlation principle to test the independent variables (product quality, brand name, price, promotion, design, store environment and service quality) that influenced consumer brand loyalty and to establish if there is any correlation between the variables.

Results

Table 2 below shows the Cronbach’s Alpha (coefficient alpha) of each of the variables tested. The findings reveal that all the variables have a high degree of reliability. Table 3, on the other hand, shows the seven autonomous variable factors of brand loyalty that were experimented during the research through questionnaires given out to the respondents. The results were also ranked using the Likert scale in the questionnaire: strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. The result is then gotten from the uppermost average score of brand loyalty factors based on the answers provident by the respondents. In overall, the result reveals that product quality is the most vital factor. In UK environment, most respondents choose product quality as the core aspect that influences their brand loyalty.

The One-way ANOVA scrutiny of the factors of income level and brand loyalty was conducted. This was meant to establish if there could be any significant relationship between the two variables. Here, there are four variables that are most significant according to the study, which include brand name (0.000) promotion (0.004), product quality (0.009) and service quality (0.038). In overall, the result shows that, in UK, majority of the consumers prefer brand name, promotion, and product and service quality as factors of brand loyalty. According to table five below, only two variables that are significant. These are price (0.014) and the brand name (0.050). An analysis of this data reveals that, among the age groups surveyed, female consumers aged between 36-42 prefer brand names more compare to other age groups.

Test of Hypothesis

As revealed in Table 4 below, brand name was found to have considerable positive relationship with brand loyalty. The results of this research revealed that consumers preferred brand image only when they foresee positive functions or benefits from the product in question. It is then that they will recommend the brand, react positively to the price premium and accept brand extension to other categories of products within the same brand.

The quality of the products was shown to have a positive correlation with brand loyalty. This kind of correlation is demonstrated based on Cohen’s (1988) principle, in which a correlation of (r=0.0302) is considered moderate. Therefore, based on these statistics, the finding showed that product quality has a lot of significance with regard to consumer decision-making process. The findings of this research revealed that brand loyalty and price had a positive relationship. In this case, price was found to be more important for any average consumer in the market. Nevertheless, those consumers with high brand loyalty were not very much sensitive to prices. The research showed that as long as these consumers were satisfied with a given brand, they would continue buying the product with the same brand irrespective of the price increase. On the other hand, the findings did not show any correlation between product design and brand loyalty. Out of all the seven variables tested, many consumers did not consider product design as an important factor for UK consumers to become loyal to a given cosmetic brand.

According to the findings, promotion and brand loyalty were found to have a positive relationship. Product promotion was considered as one of the most valuable factor in determining a consumer’s brand loyalty. This includes the use of sales promotions, commercial adverts, personal and public selling. In fact, the research revealed that many female consumers spent considerable time reading product labels before purchasing the product. The research also revealed that brand loyalty and service quality had a positive relationship. Findings showed that service quality encouraged many consumers to prioritize a store. The result indicated that salesperson consumer relationship results in long-term orientation of customers towards a given store. Similarly, trust developed in the salesperson seems to relate to the overall discernment of the store’s service quality, which leads to customer’s total satisfaction with the store.

The findings also showed that the environment of the store is also positively related to brand loyalty. The store environment is seen as major factors that influence consumer brand loyalty. This research revealed that many consumers were much sensitive to attributes of the store such as a variety of selection, merchandise displays, packing space, and ease of accessibility to vehicles and the overall goodwill of the store in buying products.

Table 1. Demographic Sample Description

	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Age18-2527-3536-42	100196104	254926
Marital statusMarriedUnmarried	204196	5149
Education:High SchoolUndergraduatePostgraduate	7228840	187210

Table 2. Reliability Analysis of Brand Loyalty factors

Variables

Alpha

Product QualityBrand namePricePromotion

Design

Service Quality

Store Environment

Brand Loyalty

0.65720.70280.66180.6974

0.7482

0.8200

0.7139

0.6646

Table 3. Brand Loyalty factor Ranking

Factor of Brand Loyalty	Ranking	Mean/Average
Product Quality	1	3.68
Q1. The brand is durable than others		3.69
Q2. The materials used by the brand are natural		4.11
Q3. The brand has sufficient color		3.65
Q4. The brand has good functional quality		3.77
		Mean Average 3.80
Design	2
Q1. The brand provides wide variety of designs		3.72
Q2. Designs of the brand are suitable for me		3.79
Q3. Designs of the brand have distinctive features		3.73
Q4. Designs of the brand are trendy and fashionable		3.85
		Mean Average 3.77
Brand Name	3
Q1. The brand is trustworthy		3.70
Q2. Brand image and name attract me to buy		3.82
Q3. Brand Name is selected irrespective of price		3.41
Q4. Brand reveals my individual personality		3.96
		Mean Average 3.72
Promotion	4
Q1 Ads of the brand is attractive		3.64
Q2. Ads of the brand attract me towards purchasing the product		3.44
Q3. Product displays are entrancing		3.62
		Mean Average 3.56
Store Environment	5
Q1. The brand has good store location		3.64
Q2. There are adequate outlets for the brand		3.76
Q3. The interior show is gorgeous		3.50
Q4. Music and color inside the store are beautiful		3.36
		Mean Average 3.57
Price	6
Q1. Increases of price not hinder me to purchase		2.99
Q2. The brand provides goods value for money		3.52
		Average Mean 3.56
Service Quality	7
Q1The salesmen in the store are knowledgeable		3.21
Q2. The salesmen in the store are willing to help		3.39
Q3. Vendor of the store is and courteous and friendly		3.18
Q4Vendors in the store have neat appearance		3.33
		Mean Average 3.28

Table 4. Significance of Brand Loyalty factors with brand loyalty

Variables	Pearson Correlation	Sig. (2-tailed)a
Product Quality

Brand name

Price

Promotion

Design

Service Quality

Store Environment

Brand Loyalty0.304

0.561

0.466

0.411

0.140

0.333

0.369

0.002

0.005

0.006

0.162

0.001

0.010

Conclusions and Findings

Various studies have focused on understanding the concept of brand loyalty and the factors influencing it. Product attributes, after sale service, marketing capabilities, perceived quality or aesthetics, depth of product line as the key differencing factors influencing the behavior of purchasers. Brand commitment is also a necessary condition for true brand loyalty to occur. Packaging, new product trial, price, store location corporate social responsibility and advertisements influence consumer behavior. While several factors influencing brand loyalty have been studied in the extant literature, this research has revealed that brand loyalty influences consumer behavior. Consumers may also compel entrepreneurs to change the brand image in terms of product or service quality. Similarly, the brand image has been proven to satisfy the consumer expectations.

The dimensions of brand loyalty theory clearly depict how consumer’s tastes and preferences influence their buying power. This is followed by an assessment of the product to decide if they will buy it or not. The assessment also referred to as evaluative tendency compels organizations to brand their products to attract customers, an aspect of competition. Product branding can be enhanced by advertising, changing the brand name and promoting it to improve recognition. The behavioral tendency proposed by Katz is creations of a bandwagon effect among consumers to enable them continue buying the product. The initial products are branded in a way of attracting customers though subsequent ones show depreciation, a strategy used by marketers. Branding through advertisement show some favor of the product while despising others, thus discouraging customers from using those other products whether related or not. The black box model looks into the customers willingness created by the company’s emphasis of the product. The characteristics of the buyer determine their choice of product.

From this research, the brand name and image has a significant impact on customer choice with all factors kept constant. As part of consumer behavior, every brand has some features which consumers always associate the brand with. They consume a given brand on the basis of its features. Again, the consumers take into account the quality, and price while making buying decisions. The point of purchase is another factor that comes to a buyer’s mind. Being a highly demanded product by women, they want to buy cosmetics from a good reputed and trustworthy purchase point. Exhibition malls serves as favorite consumer purchase point.

Other factors like age, occupation and education of consumers will influence buying decisions following the way each group has been exposed about the product. Young people will have more taste of cosmetics because they want to look good while old ones are slightly less concerned with beauty. Exposure and knowledge of a product affects its demand. The raw materials making the brand also play a vital role of its choice. If a sample cosmetic is known to contain harmful chemicals, it loses its market. An organization will get to know what factors influence the purchase decision of a consumer before branding the product. Accordingly, it will direct its marketing effort so that it can get potential customers to purchase the products.

Subject Issues Learnt

Brand loyalty is the consumer’s conscious or unconscious choice that is expressed intentionally or a behavioral pattern to repurchase a brand again. This happens following the perception of the consumer that the brand provides the right image, characteristics or quality based on reasonable price. Hence, consumer behavior is habitual. Beginning from product design to creation of a mature brand, good marketing strategies, which depend on a clear understanding of the memory, motivation, learning and decision processes, influence the consumer’s choice. Launching of new products, market segmentation, timing market entry and brand management are all related to the theoretical framework employed in the research. Branding is by far and large the most important factor influencing the product’s success or failure in the market place. It can also greatly impact the company’s perception by the buying public. Brand is not only a company’s product but also a representation of the individual company and that is where the core of brand loyalty falls.

Brand loyalty is simply more than the consumer’s commitment to repurchase a product. It incorporates the high attitude towards the product demonstrated by repeated buying. This loyalty is a business investment because of the high prices being paid by the customers. Depending upon the nature of the product versus basic necessities or luxuries, consumers a single or brand loyalty. This brand loyalty is affected by their brand choice as well as by their store loyalty behavior. The bondage of brand loyalty is strong especially through repeated advertising and promotional schemes. The main factors that influence brand loyalty are the quality of product, habit of use and regular availability of the product. Searching for a product means mental and physical information about products, prices and shops. Consumer information is thus a marketing tool that can be used to understand the interactions between a specific target segment and marketplace so as to meet the consumers’ needs and wants.

Brand image or the good reputation of a particular service ensures that it maintains a competitive advantage over other products and services. An organization’s brand is valuable strategic asset in achieving goals and objectives. Brand loyalty can be referred to as the consumer decision; whether conscious or unconscious concerning the use of a product or service. It may also refer to the intention to buy or use a particular product for a long duration of time. Brand loyalty is achieved due to the right features, and the quality of the brand. Quality of the product must be at the right price for the consumer to perceive the brand as being loyal to their needs. Organizations can change consumer behavior concerning a particular product or service through advertising.

The reasons why people become brand loyal are because the favored brand satisfies the consumer needs and wants than the competitors do. Again, there is a reduction of perceived risk, sticking with a favorite brand improves certainty. Brand loyalty helps maintain self image in reinforcing the customer’s self concept and confidence. It is also the path to least resistance. Marketers use strategies like in-store and o-location impulse triggers, notably point-of purchase displays. Consumer innovativeness is the predisposition to buy new and different products rather than remain with the previous choices and consumption patterns.

Consumer behavior is influenced by social, cultural, Psychological and personal factors. Culture influences buying behavior depending on the country, geographical region, religion, nationality and racial groups. The societal classes such as wealth distribution, education and occupation impact the behavior of consumers towards a product. Social factors like family, reference groups, roles and statuses influence buyer behavior. Personal factors include lifestyle, economic situations, age, occupation, personality and self concept. Perception, motivation, learning, beliefs and attitudes are psychological factors affecting consumer behavior. Marketers should, therefore, look into these factors in branding particular products.

References

Brown, T. and Dacin, P., 1997. The Company And The Product: Corporate Associations And Consumer Product Responses. Journal Of Marketing, 61 (1), pp.68-84.

Dutton, G., 1997. Warming The Cold Heart Of Business, Management Review 86 (6), pp.17-20.

Hoyer, W. and Maclnnis, D., 2008. Consumer Behavior. New York: Cengage Learning.

Kahren, F., 2009. Brand Loyalty. Washington D. C: Whimsical Publications.

Katz, D.,1960. The Functional Approach To The Study Of Attitudes. New York; Public Opinion Quarterly.

Kim, H., 1996. Perceptual Mapping of Attributes and Preferences: An Empirical Examination of Hotel FandB Products in Korea. International Journal of Hospitality Management 15 (4), pp.373-391.

Lunn, J., 2011. Models Of Buyer Behavior: Consumer Decision Process Models. New York: Marketing Classics Press.

Phillips, C., 2010. Brand Loyalty. New York: Youwriteon.

Pride, W., and Ferrell, C., 2008. Marketing. New York: Cengage Learning.

Sandhusen, R., 2000. Marketing. London: Routledge.

Zeithmal, V., 1988. Consumer Perceptions Of Price, Quality, And Value: A Means-End Model And Synthesis Of Evidence, Journal Of Marketing, July, pp2-22.

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Advertising Dissertation Topics

Outstanding Advertising Dissertation Topics

Advertising Dissertation Topics – Advertising is an interesting and an interactive area of study that is closely associated to the field of marketing. Each year, brands spend vast amounts of money on research and development to find out the characteristic of their target audience and then trying to capitalize on that using cutting edge advertising techniques in order to beat the competition.

With this in mind, when you have chosen your advertising dissertation topic you will begin to learn much more about products, consumers, marketing strategy and a wide variety of advertising media. There are other advertising and marketing concepts that may influence the design and content of your advertising dissertation topic. Try to do as much investigative work at the beginning of your dissertation, don’t change your advertising dissertation topic part way through your dissertation as this will prove problematic, you have time constraints when writing your dissertation and this will set you back.

Advertising has evolved so much and it has not stood still. It is safe to say that many advertising strategies used decades ago would not suit today’s fast moving ecommerce driven environments. Modern advertising requirements have seen the introduction of graphic design and media design agencies.

Be mindful that advertising has a wide range of research fields that touches all walks of life around the world. An advantage of writing your own advertising dissertation topic is that you have to follow the conventional rules of advertisement and this will unearth many questions. Why have adverts and advertising techniques changed so much over the past three decades? Why are advertising campaigns from previous eras not as effective as current advertising techniques? Today’s advertising world has been influenced by social changes, globalization, technology, political and cultural developments, it may be worthwhile incorporating these questions into your own advertising dissertation topic.

What is required from an outstanding advertising dissertation topic? Your dissertation needs to be refreshing, on topic, fluid and needs to engage the reader. Don’t deviate away from your chosen advertising dissertation topic. Keep on track, be concise when needed and ensure you adopted the correct structure for your advertising dissertation. What areas can you assess when writing your advertising dissertation topic?

Online Marketing and Advertising on the Internet

Online marketing and the internet is an interesting area to look into. The internet has transformed advertising and it is an important and wide-reaching tool that has become an effective marketing tool for companies around the world. Basing your advertising dissertation topic in this field does have its advantages as there will be copious amounts of research available to you. There is every chance that the available research is up to date and current.

It is safe to say that the internet has become the foremost selling tool for businesses, regardless of business size, industry and location. Advertising on the internet is a task that can have a profound impact on a business if deployed correctly and on the other hand advertising can be costly if not performed correctly. There are many examples of failed advertising campaigns for you to investigate along with success stories. The effectiveness of advertising strategy would make an ideal advertising dissertation topic to investigate.

There are many areas of internet advertising you may wish to consider:

The rise of online video marketing
Subliminal advertising using imagery
Comparisons between current online advertising and conventional advertising strategies
Implications of Web 2.0 interactive advertising

If you decide to investigate this field it is advisable to examine the aspects of online advertising in depth in order to form a robust advertising dissertation topic. There will be existing advertising dissertation topics for you to critique and this will give you a valuable insight into what is needed to write an outstanding advertising dissertation. Take inspiration from advertising dissertations written by successful university students this is a fundamental principle of our website.

Use of Social Media in Advertising

Social media is used heavily in the modern advertising world. It is rare for any business to launch an advertising campaign without the use of social media. Social media is used as an interactive toolset to communicate with an audience. You may wish to base your advertising dissertation topic on this field of study. Examining how social media interactive tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and blog comments contribute to the outcome of an advertising campaign. Social signals are an important factor of online advertising strategy.

Print Media

Is print media still relevant? Graphic designers who specialise in physical and print media advertising state that these techniques are still relevant to modern advertising. There is still demand for magazines, novelty items, vehicle design and billboards. Even though the internet has affected the print media industry there is still a demand for this advertising medium. It may be worth basing your advertising dissertation topic on this subject area. Explore why print media advertising campaigns resemble internet advert design – is this to offer an internet-like visual experience? I’m sure writing an advertising dissertation topic in this area will prove divisive and engaging for the reader.

Advertising Dissertation Topics and Ideas

Below is a list of advertising dissertation topics for you to assess. I do hope you take inspiration from these advertising dissertation topics in an attempt to kick start your own dissertation. Please be mindful that the below advertising dissertation topics have been submitted to universities and are offered as a guide for reference purposes.

Dissertation – The Influence of Advertising on Consumer Behaviour

Dissertation – Advertising and Semiotics as Meaningful Signs

Dissertation – Effects of Advertising and Its Impact on the Consumption of Alcohol by Young People

Dissertation – Creative Advertising versus Direct Marketing

Marketing Concepts Research Dissertations

I do hope you found this article helpful and you are now in a position to write your own outstanding advertising dissertation topic. Please feel free to leave a comment below and I will endeavor to respond to any questions you have.