香港指导assighment 关于市场定价的策略

冒险进入一些市场对于营销人员来说始终是一项艰巨的任务。现存企业和他们的客户之间的关系是决定企业成功的重要因素之一。在这种情况下,新企业在这个行业最大的挑战就是试图获得他们自己的客户基础。与其他产品或者服务市场营销情况相比，,在所有营销领域中，体育类酒吧和健身中心的营销则需要大量的努力和创造力投入其中。这是由于对于这样一个企业，想要盈利，取得成功的话就要有一个强大的客户基础。在这方面,营销业务是首要任务之一。这是因为如果你的潜在客户不了解你的业务，那么想要他们正式的成为你的客户几乎是不可能的事，这方面的营销策略也加重了体育酒吧和健身中心的压力，他们提出营销策略很难开启一段新的业务。这就有一个很好的例子,他们确保他们的客户都签署了合同登记(戈德堡,2009)。新企业只能吸引那些目前没有计划参加任何体育酒吧和健身中心的客户，或者是赶上现有业务合同的客户。新企业在这个行业应该专注于市场营销产品策略和广告等其他方面。
 

Market Pricing Strategy
 

Venturing into some markets is always a daunting task for the marketers. The relationship between the existing businesses and their clients is one of the success determining factors in such ventures. In this case, new businesses in such industries have the biggest challenge of trying to acquire their own client base. Contrary to the marketing scenario in other product/service markets, sports bar and fitness center marketing requires a lot of efforts and creativity in all marketing areas. This is because profitability and success of such kind of a business venture requires a strong client base. In this regard, marketing such a business is one of the top priorities. This is because if prospective customers do not get to know about your existence, gaining clients will be next to impossible. This aspect is aggravated by the marketing strategies employed by established sports bar and fitness centers. They come up with marketing strategies which make it hard for start up businesses to lure clients away from them. A good example is where they have ensured that their clients are enrolled on contracts (Goldberg, 2009). In this regard, new businesses can only attract customer who currently are not enrolled to any sports bar and fitness center or catch up clients of existing businesses who are out of contract. New businesses in this sector should therefore focus on other aspects of marketing like product strategy and advertising. The components of products strategy which will be important in this case are branding, features attribute of the service, positioning and service features.

 

This paper focuses on a new sports bar and fitness center to be opened in Alexandria. Its brand name will be Marvizz Sports Bar and Fitness Center. Its brand slogan will be "the perfect place to visit to get healthy, strong, fit and feel at home". It will provide a wide range of fitness services like cardiovascular training, swimming, weight training, spinning classes, organized team sports and snack bar. There will also be outdoor activities like swimming pool, playing fields and running track. The snack bar will be important in supporting fitness goal and encouraging social interaction. The target markets for Marvizz will be health conscious and sports fans added 25-55 as well as professional series earning $50000 to $150000. The professional series will have exclusive services in all aspects.

 

Product/service branding is very important because majority of the consumers purchase on emotions. In a sports bar and fitness center, it can be a locus of success. This is considering the existing competition from the already established sports bar and fitness centers in Alexandria. Many marketers tend to think that marketing a sports bar and fitness center is simply placing an ad in the yellow pages but this is a losing mentality. Instead, a careful deliberation should be given to creativity in other areas of marketing. Particular, branding will be very influential in helping a new business garner a larger market share (Psprint.com, 2009). The rationale behind our brand name (Marvizz) is its simplicity, acceptability in terms of language and appropriateness geographically. Failure to brand our new business will make it seem like just another fitness center in Alexandria. In essence, there will be nothing separating the new venture from the competition. The other rationale is that branding helps in reducing the potential pool of customer to make choices guided by such factors as convenience, price and preconceived notion. When a sports bar and a fitness center has no brand identity, the marketing manager has no control over his prospective customers' preconceptions. He is therefore forced to compete on other competition platforms like location and pricing. However, this is not the very best way to market a sports bar and fitness center especially in Alexandria where there are big and already established fitness centers. Again, providing cheap services is not a means of outselling quality.

 

In marketing any product or service, it's important to pay due attention to its features. Consumers' purchase decisions are swayed by many product or service attributes including features. For Marvizz sports bar and fitness center, it's important to ensure the service features are what the target customers desires. In this regard, the equipments available, and the different classes should be well considered. This is important in attracting new customers who are especially attracted by the specific features. We should therefore narrow their marketing focus to the customers who have a high probability of becoming members. Concentrating on features reflecting the needs of the target market is very vital in gaining new customers. This is because a client seeks to visit a sports bar and fitness center according to his physical needs. Determining the needs of the target market and providing service features which addresses these needs perfectly is an important ingredient of success. Our new venture will concentrate on features such as personalized training, private membership, nutritional programs, a wide selection of spa therapies exclusivity and impeccable facilities (Mion, 2009).

 

Positioning is the other important aspect for Marvizz sports bar and fitness center in Alexandria. Positioning plays a very significant role in helping a business a business makes the best of any market conditions. It simply means understanding the customers whom a business is selling to. The rationale behind our positioning strategy is that customers will always be ready to pay an extra penny if they are after quality service. In this regard, we have shifted our positioning focus from price to quality. Provision of a wide range of services is not enough, there is need to position the business appropriately in the consumers mind either as a value provider or premium provider.

 

Branding is very important in differentiating a business from its competitors. Every business seeks to have a unique brand. This is equally important in helping customers identify with the given brand. Branding is also very important in creating brand loyalty. Customers must be able to distinguish a certain brand from the rest in the market for them to develop loyalty to that brand. It's the basis through which a business communicates to its targeted audience at a glance. A well built brand has the advantage of helping charge high prices and eventual high profit margins. It also helps in enhancing distribution. From a wider perspective, successful branding will help Marvizz Sports bar and fitness center to enjoy higher profits. The core benefits of the fitness venture will also be augmented by including added value like free T-shirts; referral programs no membership fee and personalized training. The added value will help the new venture to differentiate itself from its competitor. Endearing to develop a brand which reflect quality just like popular brands in the global market like Microsoft or Mercedes have done will give our customers a guarantee of quality. This will also go a long way in making our brand to be a source of identity and meaning in our consumers' life. This sums up to value addition as customers will be seeking to be associated with the new sports bar and fitness center. Branding the new business using the described name and slogan will add a lot of value by helping the services offered to fetch high market share or high prices. By branding the business as the appropriate place to visit in order to get healthy, the health conscious individuals target market will be accommodated. This branding will also accommodate sports fan as who will be visiting to enjoy watching the impromptu and organized games. The professional series target market also fits very well in this branding because they will be seeking to keep healthy and fit.

 

Service features play a very significant role in differentiating ones services in the market from those of the competitors. A consumer seeks distinct service features which acts as the guide to his/her decision to visit a certain sports bar and fitness center and not the other. Our new venture will provide exclusive and enhanced service features to fit the target market. Distinct features also provide a viable basis of charging premium prices. The professional series target would also want to have a different experience from what is offered in other sports and fitness centers. In this case, providing features which create this difference perfectly suits this target market. Unique features of ours services which includes personalized training and impromptu and organized games will add value by keeping us a notch higher above our competition. Other attributes of Marvizz services will serve as our core competitive strengths like professional training, Olympic-size pool as well as a large play field of accommodating outdoor games. The accommodating and tranquil atmosphere in our sports bar also adds a lot of value to our business. Continually developing service features will be done to ensure that existing and new customers are provided with exciting experiences which will give them the value for their money. Many renowned brands are known for their product attributes. Consumers are ready to pay the asked price just to identify with a certain brand because of its attributes. This is the basic concept behind our endeavors to give our services the attributes which will add such value to our new venture's services. Product features such as personal trainer will fit the health conscious individuals because they will need to be updated on their progress. The personalized approach will also make them feel that they are in the right place. The cardiovascular training and nutritional programs will also address their heath needs especially where there are weight concerns.#p#分页标题#e#

 

By owning a piece of our target consumers' minds through positioning, value is definitely created. This is because the customers will have the right image of our services (quality). In such a situation, we will be able to gain a greater client base driven by crave for quality services. This is our marketing notion behind our positioning efforts. With a large client base, profitability, success and eventual market leadership is inevitable. This is a reflection of added value because without good positioning these deliverables will be unachievable. Basically, positioning contributes to all aspects of value addition from pricing to profitability. Marvizz will find it easy to retain its customers as long as it reinforces its consumers' perception about its services. The positioning stance (quality) adopted is very fit for its heath conscious individuals because when faced with a health need, quality comes before price. The sport fans will also enjoy every aspect of quality from the sport bar to the facilities available. Professional series target market with such huge salaries is not price conscious. This means that they will be focusing on more value beyond price which is definitely the quality. The target market also likes identifying with quality.

 

Marvizz sports bar and fitness center will use penetration pricing during its initial penetration stages (Stewart, 2007). This method pricing will be necessary to help attract new customers by ensuring market acceptance. It will also be necessary in breaking the prevailing brand loyalties. Bearing in mind that fitness center business requires near perfect marketing strategies to succeed, it will be important to implement a pricing strategy which will help Marvizz consolidate a significant client base from where to roll its marketing plan. To lure new customers to enlist for our services, we need provide a comprehensive package comprised of quality and better prices. This will also act as bait for customers whose contracts with other fitness centers have expired. We want to emerge as a fitness center which will offer the needed qualitative change at incredible prices. Profit maximization in this case will not be a long term objective. One advantage of using penetration pricing is its ability to facilitate first penetration rates. It will also grant Marvizz a competitive edge because existing competitors will have no time to react to our entry. The other important advantage is its ability to create goodwill amongst the early adopters. Pioneers will have a good word to spread about quality services, an important aspect of attracting more clients. To the professional series price skimming will be the pricing method to be used. With their high salaries and desire for exclusivity, this target market is ready to pay more for this attribute. The exclusivity in this case will be created by presence of exclusive gymnasium facilities. This pricing method will be coupled with premium pricing to because professional series put high value on positional goods.

 

Marvizz Sports Bar and Fitness Center will use product line pricing and differential pricing. Product line pricing tactic will be used to reinforce the penetration efforts of the new business. Based on this tactic, the various Marvizz will be focusing on the promoting its services by maintain uniform prices for different classes of services. For example it may opt to keep the prices of fitness classes regardless of the specific fitness exercise to be taught. This pricing tactic will also ensure that all classes regardless of their profitability are promoted. This is because the target markets identified have different potential. In this case it's customary to find some classes of services offered doing better than others. The importance of such classes should not be overlooked because they greatly support the money making services. This tactic is also very important in ensuring that Marvizz maintains a full line of services. On the other hand, differential pricing will be used on the professional series target market. Providing them with exclusive services separate from the mainstream offering will be used to justify the extra price charged. Exclusivity in this case stems from the fact that services to this target market will be offered separately. This pricing tactic will be important in ensuring the professional series target market gets the value (quality) in their mind. Again, the target market has the ability to pay higher prices for added utility as it can be deduced from their salaries ($50000- $150000).

 

The main ethical issue surrounding differential pricing is whether overcharging for the same service is wrong. Many people have diverging views regarding the same with some supporting it and others condemning it. Ethically, some view it to be a dishonest practice because the marketers negate the role of demand and supply in setting the prices. Again, those opposing this pricing tactic argue that consumers should be given an opportunity to pay for services fairly regardless of their status in the society. The legal issue surrounding this pricing tactic is its misinterpretation to mean differential treatment which is illegal under the existing laws. There are no ethical and legal issues related to product line pricing. It's deemed to be a fair pricing tactic both legally and ethically. The decision by any business to use this tactic is guided by its marketing objective.

 

As a recap, venturing into fitness business is a daunting task which requires careful planning and execution. The marketing manager should come up with effective marketing strategies to make sure that the venture is not a failure. Before venturing, it's important to decide on the markets to be targeted and develop services tailored to meet the needs of the specific target markets. The numerous variables in marketing like positioning, branding and service attributes should be given equal emphasis. This is partly driven by the fact that winning clients in the fitness business is not easy considering the fact that most fitness business clings to their customers on contract basis (Goldberg, 2009). The only breakthrough for new ventures like Marvizz Sports bar and Fitness Center is created by new customers in the business or customers whose contracts with existing businesses have expired. In this regard, it's important to come up with very effective strategies bearing in mind that competition from other businesses is rife. This therefore means that pricing strategies to be used during the initial stages will be a very important variable in ensuring firm establishment, survival and eventual success. With proper execution of strategies discussed above, Marvizz Sports Bar and Fitness Center venture in Alexandria is bound to be a success. Sometimes it may prompt to change a strategy depending on the demands of the external environment (Fitness360online.com, 2010). Again, as Marvizz grows, some old strategies may be replaced with new ones especially the pricing strategy. All these changes will be guided by how appealing it will be to its target markets.