Principle of Marketing (MGT 301) Graded Discussion Board No. 1 Due Date: June 02, 2015.

[Anmol Maha]

Principle of Marketing (MGT 301)                                                         Spring, 2015

Graded Discussion Board No. 1

Due Date: June 02, 2015.

Total Marks: 10.

Weightage: 03.

Topic: Understanding Marketing & Marketing Trends.

 

NOTE: There is no grace period in case of GDB

 

Learning objectives:

To familiarize the students with the power of brand towards fascinating its target market, and acquaint them with the latest trends of garment industry of Pakistan.

Learning Outcomes:

After attempting the GDB students will be able to:

• Learn the role of a brand towards capturing its respective target market.
• Learn and analyze customers’ reaction towards the brand development.

Scenario:

The trend of wearing branded clothes is radically increasing among general public specifically in metropolitan cities of Pakistan such as Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad etc. We daily come across a large number of billboards displaying designers’ latest collections that are advertised by the best models, actors, and actresses. Ready to wear branded clothes are now likely acquired by customers and these brands are using inimitable promotional procedures to attract their respective target market. In continuation to this, a new trend of producing branded clothes for kids is observed, famous brands such as; Mini Minors, Colors, Maria B, Outfitters, Leisure Club, and Cross Roads are quite renowned in this regard. Ideally, parents and adults are seen as more brand conscious whereas kids usually don’t have any brand sense, having said this people are getting more brand conscious and want their kids to wear branded clothes as well. This is the reason why companies are catering adults and kids for producing unique, fashionable, and stylish cloth.

Point of discussion:

As a customer how would you perceive above scenario, and do you support this branding trend shift from adults to kids? Share your opinion with proper arguments.

Marking Scheme:

The total marks of this GDB are 10; mention at least 4 points in detail to justify your answer. Avoid irrelevant text/material while answering the question.

Student’s Guide:

• Keep your discussion with the mentioned scenario and irrelevant answers and material will not be graded. 
• Do not copy/paste the text/paragraphs from the reference links.
• Be careful from those blogs who are promoting cheating culture among our students and killing their creativity and critical thinking. Answers copied from such blogs will be straightaway marked as zero. Similarly any relevant or irrelevant material copied from internet sources will get the same treatment. It can seriously damage your grades.

*Note:

For acquiring the relevant knowledge, do not rely only on handouts but also watch the course video lectures and read additional material available online or in any other mode.

 

Important Instructions:

• Your discussion must be based on logical facts.
• The GDB will open and close on above specified date and time. Please note that no grace day or extra time will be given for posting comments on GDB.
• Use the font style “Times New Roman” and font size “12”.
• Your answer should be relevant to the topic i.e. clear and concise.
• Do not copy or exchange your answer with other students. Two identical / copied comments will be marked Zero (0) and may damage your grade in the course.
• Books, websites and other reading material may be consulted before posting your comments; but copying or reproducing the text from books, websites and other reading materials is strictly prohibited. Such comments will be marked as Zero (0) even if you provide references.
• You should post your answer on the Graded Discussion Board (GDB), not on the Moderated Discussion Board (MDB). Both will run parallel to each other during the time specified above. Therefore, due care will be needed.
• Obnoxious or ignoble answer should be strictly avoided.
• You cannot participate in the discussion after the due date via email.
• Questions / queries related to the content of the GDB, which may be posted by the students on MDB or via e-mail, will not be replied till the due date of GDB is over.
• For planning your semester activities in an organized manner, you are advised to view schedule of upcoming Assignments, Quizzes and GDBs in the overview tab of the course website on VU-LMS.

 

Note related to load shedding: Please be proactive

 

Dear students,

 

As you know that Pre Mid-Term semester activities have started and load shedding problem is also prevailing in our country. Keeping in view the fact, you all are advised to post your activities as early as possible without waiting for the due date. For your convenience; activity schedule has already been uploaded on VULMS for the current semester, therefore no excuse will be entertained after due date of assignments, quizzes or GDBs.

 

“Good Luck”

[+ M.Tariq Malik]

Sometimes all these branded cloths or product should be the waste of money and time because if buyers are not feel great with the brand which we purchased.

1. In this modern world buyer demands keep changing time buy time. People just like that brands products with which they feel free and comfortable.
2. When adult/child’s seen their fellow wearing branded products or cloths they went to market and get same product who have no money for buying  same product they feel the sense of inferiority just because I thought  normally branded products are for rich peoples in every other condition it is waste of time and money.

[+ M.Tariq Malik]

• Prices of branded products are relatively high majority of our community cannot afford them due to financial situatuation. 
• When kids/people see some of their fellows using branded products and talk about brands and because they can't afford so they feel the sense of inferiority.

[+ M.Tariq Malik]

As we know that very well we are living in the world of great competition and in this competitive world everyone tries to be better than other to achieve competitive advantage.We all know that customers always like to try something new, unique and innovative. Some customers are in habit of trying new brands. Now people like to wear branded clothes and companies are now focusing to produce branded clothes for kids So as a customer I would not really support the fashion branding trend shift from adults to kids

Reasons are as follows

1. Branded clothes worth only when these are of good quality and it may possible that stylish and fashionable branded clothes lack quality and do not fit due to lack of long lasting reliability.

2.  These branded clothes can be the cause of waste of money as if customers are not satisfied with the brand after purchasing it

3. Sometimes people are in habit of trying something new. Because celebrity brand endorsement attracts them to try branded clothes (because people always like the brands promoted by the celebrities which they admire) so it’s cannot be a good idea because kids do not have sense of brands

4. Customer demands keep on changing with time and they like brands and products which are just according to their needs and expectations if they do not get what they want they can become irritated So if kids do not get branded clothes of their choice they can become irritated as they do not have any sense of brand they have only demands and expectations which they want to fulfill at any cost so I would disagree with the support of branding trend shift from adults to kids

5. Customers should try branded clothes if and only if they are of best quality, reliable, provide value for money, customer satisfaction otherwise it will create waste of money, time and effort leading to customer dissatisfaction and failure of brand in market.

[+ M.Tariq Malik]

I also support this scenario because branded clothes are of good quality, unique in design and follow the latest in fashion. 

However they come with a heavy price and they kids know nothing about brands as they are too young to notice. 

Mostly parents want to show off  their social status by buying these extremely expensive clothes for their children. You can buy a pair of jeans and t-shirt for a couple of hundred rupees or a couple of thousand rupees. It depends on how much you can and are willing to spend. 

For marketers, this is a big new market and big revenue stream.

[Tahir Rafiq]

oh dear brother AIOU demands two years of EXP. as a bank manager for MBA executive or MPA also demand two years of exp....... not just this but fee is also very high as compared with vu

[Tahir Rafiq]

Scenario:



The global markets of consumer hygiene products have shifted towards anti-bacterial segment. Keeping aligned with the trend, Pakistani consumer goods manufacturers have now started providing products that fit in the anti-bacterial category and provide maximum value to the consumer. Dettol is the pioneer of products in the anti-bacterial segment that started long time back with the offering of Dettol Soap. The company enjoyed the first mover advantage when it launched the “Dettol Surface Cleaner” which is the direct competition to open Phenyl used commonly some time back in Pakistan, and enjoyed rigorous sales. Seeing the opportunity two new entrants entered the market by launching “Max Surface Cleaner” and “Caroline Surface Cleaner” respectively. The sale of both of these products also sky rocketed, mainly because of their competitive pricing. No doubt, these newly entered variants had given a very tough competition to “Dettol Surface Cleaner” by lowering not its product sale but brand fame as well.



Point of discussion:



What strategy do you think Dettol should employ to increase its sales; should it be a price deduction related decision, or any other bundle offer, or both? Support your discussion with logical arguments.