The Five P’s of Marketing

Do you think a market segment can be found that will be responsive to the concept of leisure suits?

Yes, a market group can be found that will be responsive to the idea of leisure suits. Any, if not all products or services that are produced have a potential buyer (market). It is up to the people producing the item or service to seek out their target buyers or customer and cater the product to their needs. The idea of a suit that can be washed instead of dry-cleaned was not eagerly accepted initially, especially by the typical upper class executive who is trying to maintain a prestigious look.

Product, one of the 4P’s is defined by concept: Washable Suit. After you pick a strategy and tell your readers the strategy you have chosen, explain the ways in which the manufacturers of washable suits can use the other 3P’s of the marketing mix to implement that strategy.

The strategy that I have chosen is target marketing.

The Product: Washable Suits.

The washable suit is as its name suggest, is a suit that can be washed and dried right in the comforts of your own home. For most, this is economical and convenient; it has taken away the stigma that was clouding over traditional suits for years. They were categorized as an inconvenience because of having to go back and forth to the dry-cleaners. This washable suit, made from a combination of wool, polyester, and lycra looks no different from the non-washable ones; it holds its shape and its style.

The Price:

In order to come up with a price, you must take into consideration what it cost to make the item, the materials, the labor, the machinery ect. You also have to consider the short term and long-term sales and profit goals. If the manufacturing costs re high to begin with, then the product would probably be high priced in order for the manufacturer to break even. There are two possible pricing strategy that would best suit the market for these suits, the first being penetrating pricing simply because you can price the product at a lower price that the competition which are traditional dry-cleaned suits. This will spark the interest of your target market when compared to the high price of traditional suits plus the cost of dry-cleaning. It also changes the social and psychological stigmas that are associated with suits thinking of them as inconvenient. What better convenience of being able to wash your suit at any time of the day and not having to worry about whether or not it will be ready for the next time you will need it.

The next strategy would be the use of competitive pricing; you look at the prices that your competitors are charging and use those prices as a benchmark when pricing your own products. For example, the traditional suit may cost approximately $300 but that suit could only be bought together, where as you can price your suits separately, the jacket, the pants.

The Place (Distribution):

A suitable distribution strategy would be to use Selective Distribution: where