Marketing Mix at Dell Inc

Marketing privy be viewed as a set of functions that include occupation development, packaging, pricing, advertising, sell, distribution and customer service.Marketing tactical maneuver are referred to as the 4Ps product,place, promotion, and price. (Kotler, 2003). The grocery storeing mix is probably the most famous phrase in marketing. It was crowd together Culliton, who coined the expression Marketing Mix and it was Jerome McCarthy, who described the variables of marketing mix in terms of the four Ps.The product variables include 1. Product line and range, 2. Design, timberland, features, models, style, size and warranty, 3. Packaging, type, materials, label, 4. Branding and trade mark, 5. Service, pre-sale and after-sale, 6. New Products.The place variables are 1. conduct of distributions, types of intermediaries, channel policy and design, location of outlets, channel remuneration, and dealer-principal relations, 2. Physical distribution, transportation, warehousing, inventory, club processing, etc.The price variables are 1. determine policies, levels of prices, levels of margins, discounts and rebates, 2. Terms of delivery, payment terms, credit terms and installment facilities, 3. Resale price maintenance.Promotion variables are 1. Personal selling, objectives, quality of sales force, cost level, level of motivation, and level of effort, 2. Advertising, media mix, budgets, allocations, and programs, 3. Sales promotional efforts, uncover, contests, trade promotions, 4. Publicity and public relations. The masking of marketing mix in the case of dingle Inc. can be illustrated as followsAbout dingledell Inc. supplies PCs to business and domestic customers across the globe using direct marketing approach. In addition, dell supplies a range of IT products and services to businesses, including powerful servers, storage, workstations, notebooks, and desktops. dingle employs approximately 47,800 people worldwide. Total sales soon exceed $43.5bn per annum.ProductDell places product quality as one of the main criteria. Recently Dell voluntarily recalled certain Dell-branded batteries with cells manufactured by Sony and offered free replacements for these batteries. This is because it has been found that under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could suffer a risk of fire. This measure shows how much importance Dell places on product quality. The main bureau of Dells triumph is its strategy of offering consumers choice and control when it comes to product purchase.Buyers can pass over through Dell and assemble computer system piece by piece, choosing components like hard take on size and processor speed based on their budgets and needs. This direct contact with consumers gives Dell a militant advantage. Dells approach to innovation is customer driven. Moreover, Dell has returned to one year standard warranties on all its products. Dell builds computers on a just-in-time (JIT), build-t o-order (BTO) basis. Therefore, if a new technology emerges it can be included immediately.PromotionBy catering to customers across nations from the internet and through regional centers, Dell has acquired the location strategy advantage. From 1999, Dell has engaged in extensive marketing black markets. The Be Direct promotion social movement has changed the way consumer view Dell. The campaign focus on consumer benefits of new technology rather than comparing its products with other rival products or alliance.Dell advertises in the national newspapers, computer magazines, on the Internet and TV and by placing inserts in newspapers and magazines. Dells advertising campaigns are designed with one central objective to get a potential customer to ring up or go online and order a computer. Dell measures the impact of each individual marketing campaign by assessing the volume of calls to sales representatives and the number of clicks to the Dell website.The comp whatever also uses d irect mail. Dell publishes versatile 24-page monthly catalogues, describing available product ranges. Different catalogues are geared to separate Dell markets one for the infinitesimal businesses and the other for domestic customers. This is sent to a selected group of customers who are on Dells mailing lists. The Internet offers many another(prenominal) advantages to a direct marketing company. Products can be shown and described in detail on a website. Customers can browse at their leisure without leaving their home or office (Business2000, 2005).Dell has desire been using rebates and discounts as part of its promotion campaign. This helped it to survive competition in the industry. Dell often apply to offer brief promotions such as extra memory or a free flat-panel display that might not have remained available if a consumer took a day or two to devil a purchasing decision.Rebates have long been popular with electronics retailers, because they allow for uplifteder list pr ices and because many customers never bother filling out the forms.PriceDell is able to offer competitive pricing in general because it uses the JIT Just in time inventory model. The JIT/BTO approach means that Dell does not have to nurture stocks of components or readymade computers. At Dell Inc. usually no component is in the factory for more than terce days (Business2000, 2005). Stock, which is also called inventory, costs money. Dell does not have these costs and, therefore, can sell to the customer at a lower price.Further, by having regionalized production centers, Dell has diversified the risk of concentration of labor, production costs, and transportation costs. When production and transportation costs are cut down, the pricing can be competitive. For face basing plants in Xiamen, China Dell has been able to provide products and services at the local prices. By following a business model that allows a consumer to design his own computer cost of carrying inventory is min imized. This allows the company to offer its products at competitive rates.PlaceThe company manufactures its computer systems in six locations Austin, Texas Nashville, Tenn. Winston-Salem, North Carolina eldorado do Sul, Brazil (Americas) Limerick, Ireland (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Penang, Malaysia (Asia Pacific and Japan) and Xiamen, China (China). Dell sells its products and services worldwide By catering to customers across nations from the internet and through regional centers, Dell has acquired the location strategy advantage.The companys strategy of selling over the Internet with no retail outlets and no middleman has been as discussed, admired and imitated as any e-commerce model. Dells e-commerce website, www.dell.com, is one of the busiest in the world. The site is distributed across 86 countries, using 28 languages or dialects and 29 disparate currencies (Business2000, 2005). On the website, customers can review, configure, and price computer systems for themselv es. They can place an order online and then track the order from the manufacturing stage to actual delivery. This gives greater market reach to the company.ConclusionDell is one of the most triple-crown companies in the world. Though we may study the marketing mix in order to understand the success of Dell Inc., it must be mentioned that the Dell combination of direct marketing and just-in-time, build-to-order manufacturing brings the benefits of low cost and high quality to each and every customer. It is this focus on customer value that is truly responsible for Dells market leadership position. BibliographyAnnual Report, Dell Inc., 2005Official Website, Dell Inc., 2006, http//www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/background/en/facts?c=us&l=en&s=corp§ion=000Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2003.Business2000 (2005). Dell- Directly from Dell to the Customer. http//www.business2000.ie/cases/cases_8th/case1.htm