[MUSIC] The product or market mix is another feature of product policy, and is key to strategy. There has been developed, the concept of the four Ps, which was later developed into the seven Ps. Adding three new ones for the service sector. These would be the product itself, the process, the price, physical evidence, place, people and promotion. Let's have a look at each of these in turn, starting with product. This relates to the product range and life cycle, and the factors to consider are the design, the features and the styling, safety and convenience of use, after sales service. The optimum size of production, in particular, the amount, the volumes of production. What are the customer needs? What about any research and development needed? Secondly, we'll look at price. And this is highly dependent upon the organizational objectives. What is it we want to ensure? Optimum profits, growth in sales or market share? The optimum use of capacity? The elimination of the competition, which might lead to price wars? The pricing policy requires consideration of price elasticity of demand. Something that we've looked at on the course. The impact on demand, for instance, for a change in price, the competitive nature of the market. What about discounts? Do you plan to offer any discounts? The break even analysis, government regulation and intervention, all of this has an impact on the price of your product. Place refers to the markets in which the products are planned to be sold. Once again, let's have a look at some key issues. Where the products are purchased by customers, storage, distribution and transportation. The extent to which products are perishable, all of these factors need to be considered. When it comes to promotion, this is concerned with the advertising and the promotion to induce customers to buy your products or services. Specifically, its features are hard to measure sometimes. Market research is probably the main way of gaining this type of information. But it can be very difficult. It involves techniques appropriate to the product. Direct selling, advertising, sponsorship, maybe some sort of money back coupon, branding, packaging, all of those different things. The process refers to the delivery of the service. Its features are queues, the organization of the actual store. Telephone systems, Internet access. What about how you handle errors and mistakes? All of these things need to be considered specifically when delivering a service. The physical evidence, well, this is the maintenance of customer relations. It is different from the product itself, and it includes the office premises and facilities. Such things as call centers, the design of your website, printed material. People refer to all levels of staff. In fact, let's consider here, and specifically for your business plan, human resource management policy. Getting the right people is really key. Recruitment and training, do you plan to have a dress code, uniforms, etc.? What about a specific behavior code? All of these Ps need to be addressed, specifically in your marketing plan. [MUSIC]
