The role of marketing has changed over time; beginning with the simple trade era, a time when everything was either made or harvested by hand (White, 2010), to the Social Media Marketing Era. The following eras will be described using different business types to explain what companies did during the era; Production Era, Sales Era, Marketing Concept Era, Market Orientation Era, Customer Experience Management Era, and Social Media Marketing Era.
The production era began in the mid 1800s and lasted for 60 years. The revolution of mass production began during this era and business’ main focus was on selling their products rather than satisfying customer needs (Crane, 2014). The Ford Motor Company played a big part in the production era, this is when Henry Ford introduced the first moving assembly line. The moving assembly line at the Ford Motor Company was able to to meet the ever growing demands of a motorized vehicle by producing one Model T vehicle every 24 seconds (History, 2009). The main focus of The Ford Motor Company was the amount of vehicles the assembly line could produce and sell; this was done by creating using production plants where the parts being used to produce the vehicles could be interchangeable on the assembly line, and the ability of the assembly line to move instead of being static.
After the production era came the sales era, beginning in the 1920s and lasted until the 1960s. Industries, like the flour industry, were producing more than customers could consume and competition was growing (Crane, 2014). Companies like General Mills had to find ways to persuade customer to purchase their products. During sales era, General Mills created Betty Crocker. Betty Crocker was created because General Mills was receiving thousands of inquiries about baking during one of their gold-medal winning flour promotions, and to personalize their responses General Mills created “Betty Crocker”. At the same time Betty Crocker was created, General Mills launched a cooking school program by sponsoring cooking schools across the county and hired “cooking experts” (another way of saying sales people) to test and show their gold-medal winning flour. The cooking school program gave customers the opportunity to as questions about baking and within a few years of the cooking school program starting General Mills was receiving an increasingly number of questions regarding baking. General Mills responded to the demand of inquiries and consumers by hiring more “cooking experts” and began airing a radio show called the, “Betty Croker Cooking School of the Air” (Betty Crocker). General Mills had the competitive advantage by providing customers with more “cooking experts” and airing Betty Croker on the radio. Towards the end of the sales marketing era, business started to focus more on the customer’s needs and/or wants, which started the market concept era.
The market concept era began in the 1960s, and this is when “marketing became the motivation for among many firms” (Cane, 2014). During the marketing concept era, companies began to focus on customers’ needs and wants, like General Foods. General Foods is well knowing for their processed food products. At the beginning of the marketing concept era General Foods was very successful with product development; for example, General Mills was able to provide dual income families with frozen food products (Kraft General Foods Inc., 1990). Though the product development of frozen foods, General Foods satisfied their customers by allowing families to spend more time together rather than spending their time in the kitchen preparing foods. As companies began to focus more on the customer and their satisfaction, the era of market concept closed and a new era began, the market orientation era.
The market orientation era began around the 1990 and is still being used today. The market orientation era focus’ the customer by; collecting information on their wants and needs, sharing the information within the organization, and using the information to create value, customer satisfaction and customer relationships (Crane, 2014). Rogers is a company that provides their customers with different types of services, which include; cable, internet, wireless, and home monitoring. Once Rogers has sold product or service to a customer they follow-up with them by calling them and asking their customers a series of questions, for example, rating the sales person’s knowledge on a scale from 1 to 10. This type of information which is given by the customers is then given to the appropriate part organization and then used to increase customer satisfaction. The market orientation era allows companies, like Rogers to build a relationship with their customers and business’ benefit because these customers are likely to stay with them over their life time.
Another type of era is the customer experience management era which began in the 2000s and is still being used by companies. Customer experience management focus on how the customer interacts with an organization by providing them with the most positive experience so they become loyal to an organization (Crane, 2014). PayPal is a business which provides their customers with a service that allows them to make safe purchase transactions online and it is hassle free. PayPal doesn’t only let customers purchase from business but allows customer to customer transactions. By providing this type of transaction customers can make a transaction knowing they are not being scammed for their money. For example, I am like to purchase stuff on Kijiji and sometimes I purchase from people out of province, I use PayPal to complete my transactions. I transfer the monies using PayPal but will not provide the seller with the necessary information until they provide me with prof of my product being shipped. I truly enjoy using PayPal and have been a loyal customer for quite a few years now.
Social Media Marketing Era is the newest era, beginning only in the most recent years. Social media marketing allows a company to advertise their products or services though social media tools, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (Crane, 2014). Companies such as Beachbody sponsors social media tools like Facebook to have their advertisements posted on the user’s pages. If a consumer is interested and want to learn more about the post, they then click on the sponsored ad and it will direct them to the site. Beachbody have also created Team Beachbody, which is Beachbody’s sales people or coaches as Beachbody calls them, they are everywhere and everyone probably has a Team Beachbody friend. Beachbody coaches post a before Beachbody picture and after using Beachbody pictures on social media and advertise Beachbody products for them.

Below will fully describe and analyse the 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) using Under Armor.
Product Strategy
Under Armour offers performance products for men, women, and youth. The type of products Under Armour sells are clothing, footwear, workout accessories, and outerwear. Each product they sell can be categorized into different sports like soccer, golf, or running. Under Armour clothing has built in technology that is both breathable and lightweight and will benefit each customer no matter what they are doing. The technology includes HeatGear, for when it's hot, ColdGear, for when it's cold, and AllSeasonGear, for the in between weather (Under Armour, 2016). Under Armour also guarantees their products placing the Universal Guarantee Of Performance logo on each piece of product, this guarantee is to let consumers know, “every Under Armour product is doing something for you: it's making you better” (Under Armour, 2016).
Price Strategy Under Armour offers their customers top of the line products for about half the cost of their major competitors, like Nike and Adidas. Figure 1.1 compares the online cost of men’s and women’s clothing from Under Armour, Nike, and Adidas. All prices are in Canadian dollars.
Product Type
Under Armour
Nike
Adidas
Men’s Performance T-Shirt
$34.99
$64.00
$65.00
Men’s Performance Shorts
$49.99
$64.00
$75.00
Men’s Running Shoes
$159.99
$230.00
$180.00
Women’s Performance T-Shirt
$32.99
$80.00
$55.00
Women’s Performance Shorts
$34.99
$64.00
$35.00
Women’s Running Shoes
$119.00
$200.00
$180.00

Promotion Strategy
One type of promotion strategy Under Armour uses is endorsing athletes, not just any athlete, but athletes who didn’t receive the draft in the first round pick, These athletes are chosen because they have chip on their shoulder and they want to win, which aligns with Under Armour’s mind-set (Schlossberg, 2015). By endorsing these types of athletes they are promoting their products get you to where you want to be and this has been very successful for Under Armour.
Besides endorsing athletes, Under Armour reaches out to their audience though online advertisement through using social media, billboards, and magazine advertisements. Under Armour also sponsors various events to promote themselves; like Tough Mudder and they also sponsors sports teams, where their logo is on each players top.
Place (Distribution) Strategy Under Armour products are made in countries in Asia, Central America, South America, and Mexico (Under Armour, 2016). They have distributors placed all around the world to provide and their products can be found in just about ever sporting good stores across the globe. Under Armour also has its own retail store across the world and products can be searched and found through their online store or participating retail store. Question 3:

Market segmentation is the process of linking groups that have the same needs and wants and linking them to an organization and then using the 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) to execute their products (Crane, 2014). For example, Starbucks primarily markets their products to adults who are, “urbanites with relatively high income, professional careers and a focus on social welfare,” (O’Farrell, n.d). Though market segmentation, they provide Starbucks is able to provide customers with top quality coffee and specialty drinks. Starbucks has created an environment, which is friendly, urban and quick service to accommodate their target markets needs.
Starbucks coffee and specialty drinks cost more than their competitors, but their target customers are able to pay the price because they have a higher income. Starbucks is not placed on every corner of intersections, instead they have placed their stores in malls, airports, bookstores, and hotels, places where their target audience are likely to be.
Market positioning is to get business’ to think like the customer by using the following four steps; consider important attributes of the product, determine how target audience rates the competitor, determine where the company stands with the competition, and make changes to adapt to the customer’s needs. Once the business considers the four steps they will know where they stand in the customer’s hearts and minds (Crane, 2014). Still using Starbucks as an example, Starbucks have determined what their customers’ needs are, social status is important to their customers and pricing doesn’t have an impact on their purchases. Starbucks competitors don’t provide their target customers with the top quality coffee and speciality drinks which Starbucks can offer; therefore, their target market don’t think very highly of lower quality coffee. Starbucks main focus is their customers and their needs. They provide them with a friendly environment, where they can relax and enjoy a cup of coffee, leaving them to be completely satisfied. These traits of Starbucks give them the competitive advantage.

Question 4:

Using the analytical frameworks of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and PEST (political, economical, social, technological), the below will be comparing and contrasting Canadian Tire and Hudson’s Bay Company.
SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)

Strengths:

While Canadian Tire is one of Canada’s largest retailers and Hudson’s Bay Company is one of Canada’s largest departmental stores. Both companies have similar strengths. Each store provides their customers with incentives, Canadian Tire gives their customers Canadian Tire Money, while Hudson’s Bay Company has a points reward system. Customers also have the ability to make a purchase through instore credit cards, this allows customers to make purchases when they don’t have the funds. Another strength both companies have in common is customers have the option to shop online.
One strength Canadian Tire has but doesn’t exist for the Hudson’s Bay Company is 90% of the Canadian population lives within 15 minutes of a Canadian Tire store (Canadian Tire Cropration, 2014). The Hudson’s Bay Company offers online shoppers free shipping for purchase over $99 and they are one the fastest growing departmental stores worldwide.
Weaknesses:

Canadian Tire and Hudson’s Bay Company don’t share as many weaknesses as they do strengths. Canadian Tire is not known globally and they don’t provide free shipping on their orders. One weakness of the Hudson’s Bay Company is the departmental retail store is pricier and because it owned by an American company driving the prices lower is not simple. One common weakness between Canadian Tire and Hudson’s Bay Company is both stock market prices are decreasing in the past year (The Globe and Mail, 2016).
Opportunities:

Canadian Tire has the opportunity to expand globally, thus increasing their stock market prices. Canadian Tire also has the opportunity to provide customer with free shipping when ordering products online. While Hudson’s Bay Company has the opportunity to lower their high priced items.
Threats:

Both Canadian Tire and the Hudson’s Bay Company have the same threat, competition. Canadian Tire’s major competition is Home Depot, and Hudson’s Bay Company major threat are other major department stores like Macy’s.

PEST (political, economical, social, technological)

Political: Both Canadian Tire and the Hudson’s Bay Company must follow Canada’s laws and regulations; such as, employment standards, securities trading, disclosure, competition standards, privacy act, human rights and harassment, environment, health and safety laws (Government of Canada, 2015). Not only does the Hudson’s Bay Company need to follow the rules in regulations in Canada, but also other countries rules and regulations they are doing business in.

Economical: Both Canadian Tire and the Hudson’s Bay Company need to consider economical factors, such as employment, interest rates, and inflation. Employment rate must be considered when stocking their shelves, if employment rates are low customers are likely to spend money and if employment rates are high, good won’t be sold. They also need to consider interest rates and inflation; these rates could increase the company’s overall expenditures if they are increased.
Social:
Canadian Tire and the Hudson’s Bay Company are committed to social factors when doing business. Canadian Tire website lets customers read how they are committed to their communities and the environment; for example, Canadian Tire is ISO14001 registered. For a company to be ISO 14001registered they must comply with the Environmental Management Standards and would be audited yearly to keep their registration (Canadian Tire, 2016).
The Hudson’s Bay Company released an online report, this report lets their stakeholders know how they are committed to communities and the environment. For example, the Hudson’s Bay Company has a HBC Foundation to help communities like Habitat for Humanity (Hudson’s Bay Company, 2014).
Technological:
Canadian Tire is one step ahead of Hudson’s Bay Company with technology, by giving customers the ability to check themselves out. Customers who shop at the Hudson’s Bay Company still need to go to the cash register to pay for their goods, while shoppers at Canadian Tire can use one of them many self-checkouts to pay for their goods. Both companies use the internet by releasing weekly flyers online, shoppers are able to shop online from the comfort of their home, and they have the ability to check their credit card balances though the internet.

Reference List

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Canadian Tire. (2016). About US: Corporate Citizenship: Environmental Sustainability. Retrieved from http://corp.canadiantire.ca/EN/CorporateCitizenship/EnvironmentalSustainability/Pages/default.aspx

Canadian Tire Corporation. (2014). Canadian Tire Corporation: Investors Presentation. Retrieved from http://corp.canadiantire.ca/EN/Investors/EventsPresentations/Documents/Investor%20Presentation%20-%20September%202014.pdf

Crane, F., Kerin, R., Hartley, S., Rudelius, W. (2014). Marketing: Ninth Canadian Edition. McGraw-Hill Ryerson

Government of Canada. (2015, November 6). Canada Business Network: Regulations. Retrieved from http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/page/3424/

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Hudson’s Bay Company. (2014). 2014 Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Retrieved from https://www3.hbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2014-Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Report.pdf

Kraft General Foods Inc. (1990) International Directory of Company Histories. Retrieved June 06, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2840600198.html

O’Farrell, R. (n.d). Who Is Starbucks’ Target Audience. Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/starbucks-target-audience-10553.html

Scholssberg, M. (2015, Sept, 8). Under Armour’s underdog strategy to becoming the anti-Nike. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/under-armours-underdog-strategy-2015-9

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