"Students Addicted to Social Media"

This article looks at a study done at a large University on how younger people rely very heavily on social media to interact with friends and family. It provides interviews with those students who say that they can't live without some form of social media. When having to live without it most of them stated how they felt less connected with their friends, family and even with what was going on in the rest of the world.

In my own personal experience, I use social media to talk to my friends from home, from school, and my family almost on a daily basis. While at school, my cell phone and facebook are my main means of communication with my friends from home. I especially use text messaging because it allows me to talk to my friends all day long while being able to perform other tasks. When I do not have access to my cell phone I feel like I am missing out on so much. I feel like people are trying to get a hold of me and I can't respond. I know, when at school, my parents get nervous when I do not answer my phone because I always have it on me. They think that something is wrong.

I feel in today's day and age social media is our main communication source. It is the way that I find out about what is going on the world because I am unable to have a television in my room at school. It gives me access to information I wouldn't be able to obtain through the television or the newspaper. This phenomenon is just going to continue to grow and it is something everyone will soon be using.

Do you think you are a victim of conforming to social media? If so, what part of social media do you use the most and why?

In response to Elizabeth's Question

"A lot of people are now seeing that companies are selling more products or have them in stock online rather than in the store. Do you agree with this?"

I do not agree with this. I feel that it is can really attract the customer away from the product or even the store. When one goes shopping, they may be buying on impulse and they may see a pair of jeans they want in the store but that don't have their size or length. When asking the sales clerk if they have them in stock, and they respond with they can purchase the product online, it may give them time to think about it and decide they don't want to make the purchase. In turn, they lose the sale.

Also, I do not think it is beneficial for them to sell some products online only. For instance, I know Victoria's Secret does this often. They have clothes that they sell online that they do not sell in the store. This limits their customer base because people may not always look at their website. In the mall, people may just happen to wander into their store and purchase a product. It is more difficult for a person to come across their website one day and find something they want to buy. It definitely limits who purchases their products.

Have you ever experienced this type of situation and in turn didn't end up purchasing the product at all?

Product Differentiation

It is important for a company to make sure their products are different from their competitors. The use of product differentiation includes the quality, features, and support services of each product. The different products helps to attract a vast variety of customers. It also helps make your product stand out as opposed to one of your competitors.

To start, the quality of the product is one of the most important parts of a product. It it what first will attract a customer to a certain product line, or ever store. For example, there are some products that may look exactly the same but the quality is different. A car for instance, Toyota, could have a life expectancy of 10 years where as a Honda may be known to have a life expectancy of 15 years. This is all due to the quality of the product. They may have the same features and support services but the overall quality is more reliable and longer lasting.

Next, the features of a product is what may be the deciding factor for some people as to which brand to buy. For example, the ipad and the kindle are two very similar products. But they both have different features. The features one of them has may work for one customer while the features the other has may work for another. The ipad is in color, where as the kindle is not. This could be what helps the consumer make the purchasing choice.

Finally, the support services of a product can set them aside from the rest. Many electronics equipment have support services over the phone. Whether or not the service is in an area where the language they speak one can understand, or if it is outsourced could affect the satisfaction of the customer. The less satisfied a customer is, the more they could spread the word which could cause less customers.

In the end it is best to have product differentiation because it helps give a customer a variety of options. What part of product differentiation do you think you pay most attention to when looking to make a purchase?

Marketing Channels

A marketing channel deals with how products gets from the producer to the consumer. There are two main ways this can be done either directly from producer to consumer or from the producer to an intermediary to then the buyer. When going from producer directly to the buyer there are more channels that need to be taken into consideration. Each producer needs to communicate with each buyer. If a producer were to go through an intermediary, they would only have to communicate with that one intermediary and the same for the buyer. They would only have one person to communicate with. Communicating with the intermediary seems like a quicker option.

There are also several channels that are used to distribute products to consumers. Each one is beneficial to different organizations depending on circumstance. Just a few of the options are either producer directly to consumer. This would include no intermediaries. Another option is from producer to retailers to consumers. This would be like Target who buys things from the manufacturer in bulk and then sells to the consumer. A third example is from producer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. A good example of this are tobacco companies who sell their products to wholesalers who then sell these products to a large number of retailers. This helps the tobacco company get its products out to a large amount of people. There are many more channels that companies can use, these just name 3 of the most used types.

Since there are so many marketing channels, it may seem like it would be difficult to choose which channel an organization should use. Most companies base it on a variety of options. First they start with customer characteristics. The company needs to take into consideration the geographic region of their target market, and what is best for them. They then look at product attributes. The price of the product determines whether one buys it directly from the manufacturer or from a retailer. The sizes or products and characteristics all play a role. The type of organization also influences what type of marketing channel they use. The larger the firm the easier it may be to negotiate deals. They also have more money and may be able to spend more on developing a sales force while smaller firms don't have the financial means to do so. They also look at how their competition is getting their products to the consumers. Which method are they using and how is it working for them? These are only a few of the many factors they look at.

The way a producer gets their products to the consumer is very important. If they aren't able to do it in a timely non costly fashion it could be tragic for their organization. Do you think it is essentially easier to a buyer to go right to the producer, or although it may be at a higher cost, is it less of a hassle to go through retailers and wholesalers?

In response to Elizabeth

"Do you feel as though people are going to buy a toyota car even after hearing about them in the news? Or will people start buying from other car companies such as nissan or ford?"

For a long time, my family would only purchase Toyota's. My father is a loyal customer. He will not buy any car unless it is Toyota, and he currently drives one. Luckily his car was not one of the ones that was recalled, and although I haven't talked to him about how he feels about this situation, I feel that if he needed to purchase a new car, he would still stick with Toyota.

Now, just because that is what my father would do, I don't think everyone would have that same feeling. I feel that each company has their loyal customers and people who have been buying from them for years. I think that those who are loyal customers and still haven't had any problems with their Toyota will continue to purchase their cars from them. I also think that people with Toyota's, who may not be loyal customers, they may even be first time customers, but they haven't experienced any problems, will continue to keep with Toyota.

One the other hand, those ones who have had the bad experiences will probably never go back. They may even get their friends and family members to refrain from purchasing a Toyota, but I don't think that it will last forever. Like celebrity affairs, the event will eventually blow over. 10 years from now, people will have totally forgotten about this whole ordeal. There will be a new group of young people entering the car market who were never affected by the events that arose due to the manufacturing problems with Toyota vehicles. Also, all of the bad publicity this company is currently getting is opening their eyes. They now will be much more cautious as to the safety of their vehicles before they put them on the road.

When it comes to whether or not people will look to other car companies to buy cars, I think right now they will. The questionable reliability of Toyota is still lingering and is causing worry to some, so yes, they will buy cars from other companies, but like I mentioned earlier I don't think it will last for long. Toyota has always been one of the leading car sales companies and they aren't going to stop now. Once the newest up to date car comes out, I believe people will forget about what happened and be looking into buying that car.

Do you think its true that over the mistakes a powerful company makes, usually blow over? Do you know any examples as to where this may have happened?

In response to Deanna

"Do you know anyone who has been unemployed?"

The declining job market of 2009 hit many homes in the United States. Millions lost their jobs, and hundreds of thousands lost their homes. There were very little businesses that were looking for people to hire and when an organization was hiring, the line of applicants stretched around the block. The unemployment problem did not affect myself personally but one of my good friends family has suffered tremendously.

My friends Mom used to work at one of the local factories in my hometown. It employed hundreds of people, but once the recession began to erupt they had to lay off a great deal of employees. This organization was only able to keep the employees that were absolutely essential in running the business. Unfortunately my friends mother was not one of them. She had only been working at the factory for a couple of years, so the people with seniority kept their jobs and she was out. She previously hadn't needed to have a job because her husband was the sole breadwinner in the family, but my friends grandmother got sick and her Mom ended up having to go to work to help pay the medical bills.

Since she has lost her job she has been unable to find another one. Her husbands job has also been slowing down a great deal and he isn't working as many hours as he used to receive. He also works in a local factory, but was luckily one of the employees who didn't get laid off due to his seniority with the company. Her family has had to downsize from their two story home, to a smaller one story home. They have also had to cut back tremendously on their spending, where they only buy what is absolutely necessary. My friends mother was laid off last year and is still struggling to find a job. Hopefully, now that the economy seems to be recovering, jobs will open up and they will be able to get back to where their family used to be.

Do you think that the job market will grow now that it seems the economy is making a recovery? If so, how long do you think it will take to get the unemployment rate back down to where it was before the recession?

Importance of Price

When it comes down to it most companies rely on the sale of their products to keep a float. In order for their products to be sold, the price at which they sell them is most important. There are some companies who charge the absolute minimum price they need to in order to cover their costs. Others charge outrageous prices because they want it to seem as if they products are of better quality than others. In the end after all of a companies costs are covered, the amount of money they continue to charge is just to benefit them

There are companies like Wal-Mart who charge very low prices for their products. They have become such a large organization because they are able to do that. They are able to keep down their variable costs by having their products produced in developing countries. This also helps to keep down their fixed costs because it cost very little to run factories in this country. They have a competitive advantage in their industry because they have such low prices. They do not have to worry as much when an economic recession hits as may Kohls. Wal-Mart is where people turn to get cheaper products. The pricing that this organization uses is what has helped them to be so successful. There is the controversy though, that they are using forms of slave labor to get these low prices, and at times has caused people to stay away from Wal-Mart.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are those companies who charge extremely high prices for their products. At times, their products may be made out of a better material than the cheaper ones, but other times the brand name of a product, or a product that is endorsed by a celebrity, leads to higher prices. For example, the two clothing stores, American Eagle and Abercrombie and Fitch are within the same industry, make the same quality clothes yet Abercrombie tends to have higher prices than American Eagle. Their total costs are probably the same but the profit that Abercromibe makes on each sweatshirt as opposed to American Eagle is more than likely higher. I know both stores and have shopped at both and I have come to notice how they both have good quality products, but one charges more than the other.

The type of event described above can be happening for one of two reasons. Abercrombie and Fitch may be a more well known brand name than American Eagle. If this is the case, they feel as if their brand is worth more so they can charge more, although their products are identical. Another reason this may happen is because they are looking to attract a certain kind of customer, which in my own personal experience I feel Abercrombie is trying to achieve. They want to attract more of the middle to upper class citizens rather the lower class ones. They may feel it is an image their company wants to uphold.

In essence, in order to run a good business, the prices of your products have to come into consideration. A company who sells their product at a higher price may not get as many customers, but at the same time still profits because they are able to charge such a high price for reasons such as branding. In the end each company is able to find some way to make a large enough profit to grow.

Would you rather shop at an organization that charges lower prices because they use forms of slave labor, or would you rather pay a little extra money and buy items from a store who provides Americans with jobs?