Changes in the business environment and the advent of new marketing challenges have resulted in a direct causal relationship. These challenges are:
Satisfy customer demand and expectations:
In today’s market, the customer is king. Customers have multiple choices, and companies must now offer products that meet global standards. Marketers must ensure world-class quality, and companies must obtain international quality certifications.
Customers place a high value on an offering that caters to their local tastes. Price competitiveness is now essential, both related to competition and related to customers. Customer expectations are rising, they want high quality at low prices. Marketers need to maximize benefits and control costs to the customer so that customers get more for less.
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Delivery of value:
Consumers are better informed and able to more effectively assess the costs and benefits of different brands, thanks to the communications and media revolution. Today, information is accessible to customers through various means such as newspapers, television, internet, etc.
With the expansion of choices, customers become demanding and seek added value in products and services. Customers have become very demanding and insist on value.
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Competition :
Competition is arguably the toughest challenge in marketing , even established brands must continuously maintain a superior competitive position in the market.
Businesses now face competition from local and global brands, new entrants, expansions, mergers, takeovers and diversifications across industries.
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National brands face competition from multinationals with their countless products and brands . These companies are huge in size, budget and marketing skills.
In this situation, national and local brands have to compete with the strong range of brands of multinationals. They need to invest more in product and brand development.
Another element of the new competition was the liberalization of imports.
For example, products of all categories from China have conquered the Indian market, despite customs duties.
The technological challenge
Today’s market is technology driven. Companies invest significant capital in research and development activities. Technology is a key factor in the computer, pharmaceutical, automotive, computing and telecommunications industries.
Technology itself is changing rapidly, requiring us to react quickly to information. Marketers need to make innovative use of technology to improve their marketing productivity and customer relationship .
All this is possible by investing more in research and development, companies must focus on improving products by investing more in new technologies.
Distribution challenges
Most companies distribute their products to consumers through two sources: retail and sales agents. Marketers will now have to find new combinations of hybrid marketing channels to reach all customers. The changing lifestyle of customers has changed the buying pattern.
Now, new retail formats have changed the face of the market. The retail revolution essentially means moving from a single supply store to a modern distribution with supermarkets, malls, chain supermarkets and retail outlets.
Large manufacturers now face competition from large retailers’ own brands. Managing the relationships between the different members of the distribution channel becomes a major challenge.
They need to add value to their sale without compromising any element of the distribution channel, and they need to learn new skills in developing a network of channel partners and intermediaries.
Globalization:
New foreign trade and globalization policies are pushing businesses into global markets.
From now on, the internal market is open to multinationals, companies can extend their market beyond the borders of their country, for this they must have global competitiveness in terms of costs, quality and technology.
They must deliver world-class quality that would meet customer expectations. Businesses need to develop a competitive advantage in areas such as sales, packaging, quality, etc. It can be seen as an opportunity and a challenge.
Organizational challenges
Marketing companies must develop an organization and system capable of responding to changes in the marketing environment. The main task is to create an organizational environment that will be receptive to change and evolve with the demands of global marketing.
It is necessary to have cross-functional organizations capable of working with multidisciplinary teams, the culture and climate of the organization must be flexible enough to embrace the culture of the global market structure.
In conclusion, marketing challenges in the 21st century require constant adaptation, a deep understanding of consumer needs and continuous creativity to succeed in an ever-changing market. Marketers must remain flexible, innovative and aware of new trends to successfully meet these exciting challenges.
