This article is part 3 of 4 in the 4 Ps of Marketing Mix
When thinking about creating a business and selling a product or service, we often look at how we will differentiate our self from competitors, or how much we will sell for. What often gets neglected is where the product will come from, how it will get to the customers, and where the customers will buy it. This is an important aspect to look at as it can create a path towards a competitive advantage or product differentiation.
For this reason, the third portion of the 4 P’s of a Product Marketing Mix is to look at Place. In this portion, we answer the question “where”. Where will we build our product, where will be storing the product, where will the product be distributed, and where will the customers purchase the product? Each of these items can have multiple answers and can change throughout the life of the product. To create our 4 Ps of the Product Marketing Mix, we look at how to start to answer these questions.
Sourcing the product or service.
Before a product of a service can be brought to market, it needs to be sourced. Where the product of service comes from can define a product as much as the features it boasts. Take for example two equivalent plates sourced from two different countries. Plate one is made in Sweden by Ikea, which can be seen as a low cost simple plate for the masses. Another one made in the Turkish Ceramic industry. Outside of material difference, the creative differences and cultural differences are also present in how the plates are created and how they look. When determining what you will sell, it is therefore important to know where you will source the product from.
Services also fall under the question of where to source from. Take for examples a company that helps customers build websites. In this example, we will call the company “Webify”. The service Webify provides is that of building customers websites. They can source this service either in house or outsource the work. Webify compares having in house local developers in Canada, or to out source to developers in Pakistan.
Each of these options will create a difference in the kind of service Webify will be able to provide. One aspect to take into consideration would be the time difference between Canada and Pakistan. If Webify was to have in house developer, they would be able to provide immediate service to their customer. Conversely, Webify would have to wait 24 hours to provide developer support to their customers if their development service is based in Pakistan.
Other considerations might include language, culture, work habits, or even understanding of how users interact with websites.
Although these service source issues are related to website development, a lot of other services can face the same hurdles when developing a Product Mix.
Distribution and Purchasing
Now that a product has been sourced, the next step is to look at how the product will get to the customer, and where the customer can purchase the product.
Understanding how you will bring you product to your customers helps identify where you will store your product, and how you will get to the
There are several different methods of selling a product, which include:
- Brick-and-Mortar stores
- Online e-Commerce site
- Online Market Place
- Physical market place
- Door-to-door
Where you sell the product can influence the success or failure of your product marketing mix strategy. Online e-commerce sites are good for items that don’t need to be tried or tested before purchasing.
This is something the clothing industry has struggled with because people generally do not know how well an article of clothing will fit without first trying it on. Selling solely on a website inherently makes it harder to convince someone to buy clothing (Though not impossible). Ideally, the selected method of selling should complement your product offering.
Furthermore, you will have to get the product or service from the source to your customer. This too, should complement the product and the place of selling. If the goal is to get the product to the customer as quickly as possible, the product should be stored locally and ready to ship. Alternatively, if the product is custom made, having the resources available on site to produce the product will be important.
Putting it all together
Once these questions are answered, the full chain of sourcing, creating, storing and selling should complete the Place section of the 4 Ps. At this stage it should be checked to make sure that the selections match, complement, and/or improve the product that you are aiming to sell. The competitors product chain can also be analysed to see if there are ways to improve on what the competitors are already doing.
Once that is complete, we can move on to the last section; the promotion.
