Assignment 1: The prices of Levi Jeans at Wal-Mart started as low as $19.99. Levi Jeans at Target were mostly in mid-to-late 20s and at Macy’s mid 30s was the lowest range. These prices didn’t come as a surprise because of the different marketing strategies pursued by these three retailers.

Wal-Mart markets itself as a discounted retailer and competes on the basis of low prices. Target pursues a middle strategy by balancing prices as well as perceived quality of the products. This may be why Target has become popular for its stylish range of clothing at reasonable prices. Macy’s primarily targets the customers in middle income and higher categories.

Assignment 2:

Q1. What are the functions of marketing?

A1. The functions of marketing include buying, selling, transporting, storing, and grading goods as well as financing activities, marketing research, and risk-taking in marketing decisions.

Q2. What is market segmentation?

A2. Market segmentation is the targeting of marketing segments that are characterized by individuals, groups, or organizations sharing one or more characteristics, and have relatively similar product needs and desires.

Q3. What do mousetraps have to do with the marketing concept?

A3. Marketing concept is the idea that an organization should try to satisfy customers’ needs through coordinated activities that allow it to achieve its goals. The main goal of any commercial organization is profit maximization and by providing the customers a product that they want, at a price that is acceptable to them and distributing the product through channels preferred by the customers, a business is able to satisfy a particular market need and earn profits in the process. In this case, a business will target customers that need mousetraps and will look into their particular requirements. It will then price the mousetraps according to what the customers are willing to pay and will distribute the mousetraps through retail stores where the customers are mostly likely to buy it.

Q4. What is marketing?

A4. Marketing is a group of activities that result in business transactions by creating, distributing, pricing, and promoting goods, services, and ideas.

Q5. What is marketing research?

A5. A marketing research is a systematic, objective process of getting information about potential customers to guide marketing decisions. A marketing research helps businesses find out a group or groups of customers that can be targeted to sell the company’s products. A marketing research can also be used to find the preferences of existing customers who may demand new products or whose tastes may have changed.

Q6. What is the marketing environment?

A6. The marketing environment consists of external forces that directly or indirectly influence the development of marketing strategies. Examples of external forces include political factors, regulatory requirements, competitive and economic factors, and state of technology.