Marketing Mix at Dell Inc

Marketing can be viewed as a set of functions that involve convergence development, packaging, pricing, advertising, dish outing, distribution and customer service.Marketing tactics are referred to as the 4Ps product,place, promotion, and price. (Kotler, 2003). The marting commixture is probably the most famous phrase in marketing. It was James Culliton, who coined the expression Marketing Mix and it was Jerome McCarthy, who described the variables of marketing mix in impairment of the four Ps.The product variables include 1. Product eviscerate and range, 2. Design, quality, 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. convey of distributions, types of intermediaries, channel policy and design, location of outlets, channel remuneration, and dealer-principal relations, 2. Physical distribution, imparting, warehousing, inventory, rev isal processing, etceteraThe price variables are 1. Pricing 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, display, contests, trade promotions, 4. promotion and public relations. The application of marketing mix in the case of dell Inc. can be illustrated as followsAbout dingledell Inc. supplies PCs to avocation and domestic customers crosswise the globe using direct marketing approach. In addition, dingle supplies a range of IT products and services to businesses, including powerful servers, storage, workstations, notebooks, and desktops. dell employs more or less 47,800 people worldwide. Total sales currently exceed $43.5b n per annum.ProductDell places product quality as peerless of the main criteria. Recently Dell voluntarily recalled certain Dell-branded batteries with cells manufactured by Sony and supplyed free replacements for these batteries. This is because it has been found that infra rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could pose a risk of fire. This measure shows how lotstimes importance Dell places on product quality. The main part of Dells success is its system of offe remember consumers choice and control when it comes to product purchase.Buyers can click through Dell and assemble computer formation piece by piece, choosing components like hard drive size and central processing unit speed based on their budgets and needs. This direct contact with consumers gives Dell a competitive advantage. Dells approach to innovation is customer driven. Moreover, Dell has returned to one social class standard warranties on all its products. Dell builds comput ers on a just-in-time (JIT), build-to- exhibition (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 campaigns. The Be Direct promotion campaign has changed the way consumer view Dell. The campaign concenter on consumer benefits of new technology rather than comparing its products with other pertain products or company.Dell advertises in the national newspapers, computer magazines, on the meshwork 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 tinct of each(prenominal) individual marketing campaign by assessing the volume of calls to sales representatives and the number of clicks t o the Dell web localise.The company in addition uses direct mail. Dell publishes respective(a) 24-page monthly catalogues, describing available product ranges. Different catalogues are geared to divorce Dell markets one for the small 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 advantages to a direct marketing company. Products can be shown and described in expound on a website. Customers can browse at their leisure without release their home or office (Business2000, 2005).Dell has long been using rebates and discounts as part of its promotion campaign. This helped it to survive competition in the industry. Dell often used to offer brief promotions such as extra remembering or a free flat-panel display that might not seduce remained available if a consumer took a day or two to build up a purchasing decision.Rebates have long been popular with electronics retailers, bec ause they allow for high list prices and because many customers never bother filling out the forms. bellDell is able to offer competitive pricing mainly because it uses the JIT however in time inventory model. The JIT/BTO approach means that Dell does not have to keep stocks of components or readymade computers. At Dell Inc. usually no component is in the factory for more than three 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 instance 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 co st of carrying inventory is minimized. This allows the company to offer its products at competitive rates.PlaceThe company manufactures its computer systems in sextet locations Austin, Texas Nashville, Tenn. Winston-Salem, North Carolina Eldorado do Sul, Brazil (Americas) Limerick, Ireland (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Penang, Malaysia (Asia peaceful 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 unlike currencies (Business2000, 2005). On the website, customers can review, configure, and pr ice computer systems for themselves. 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 successful 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 confederacy 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 trustworthy for Dells market leadership position. BibliographyAnnual Report, Dell Inc., 2005Official Website, Dell Inc., 2006, http//www1.us.dell.com/ subject matter/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