The Extended Marketing Mix, 7Ps One of the earliest marketing mix models was by McCarthy (1960) and defined the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. This was further improved by Booms and Bitner (1982) taking into consideration the service industry which introduced 3 more Ps: People, Physical evidence and Process. Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organisations and ideas. An organisation should consider 3 levels of product: core, actual and extended as illustrated in. chart in 5415 b66 pg 129 blythe Figure 1: 3 levels of product? need to citeee??? Price is the amount charged for a product or service or the sum of values consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.
It earns the revenue of all the 7Ps and is a factor that affects the perception of quality and users’ decisions; therefore should be appropriately set. Place involves the methods of transporting and storing goods and then making them available for the consumer. Getting the right product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system which subsumes manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and others. Promotion encompasses all the communications activities of marketing: advertising, public relations, sales promotions, personal selling, and more. ’ It is used to communicate with potential and existing consumers, information on the organisation’s products and to convince them to purchase. Process involves the activities that results in delivering the said product’s benefits. The process of delivery is an important factor that creates a difference to the benefits reaped by consumers in the service industry.
People are ‘all human actors who play a part in service delivery and thus influence the buyer’s perceptions; namely, the firm’s personnel, the customer, and other customers in the service environment. ’ Physical evidence is ‘the environment in which the service is delivered and where the firm and customer interact, and any tangible components that facilitate performance or communication of service. ’ The model has its own limitations. Firstly, it does not cover or focus on forming and sustaining long term relationships. It would be essential for businesses to have these relationships with suppliers and even customers to succeed and gain a competitive advantage. There should also be a consideration of internal resource constraints of the organization when using the 7Ps. If not, an inappropriate combination and ingredient of the marketing mix can have the chance of increasing customer’s expectations beyond the organisation’s ability to deliver what was promised. Examples would be financial resources and competences of the organisation.
