abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
Bank of America Merrill Lynch[1] is the investment banking and wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 brokers and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage.[2] Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MER. The firm was involved in several of the major financial scandals of the last 20 years, including those centred on Enron and financial derivatives, resulting in many multi-million dollar fines. It ceased to exist as a separate entity in September 2008 at the height of the 2008 Financial Crisis, having been acquired by Bank of America.
This article describes both the historical Merrill Lynch and its ongoing operations as a subsidiary of the Bank of America. Merrill Lynch provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related financial services worldwide. Merrill Lynch is headquartered in New York City, and occupies the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center building in Manhattan.
1. Product.
Product-mix involves planning, developing and producing the right types of products and services to be marketed by the firm. It deals with the product range, durability and other qualities and other features. In short, product planning and development involves decisions about: (i) quality of the product (ii) size of the product, (iii) design of the product (iv) volume of the production (v) packaging (vi) warranties and after- sales service,
2. Price:
It is one of the most difficult tasks of the marketing manager to fix the right price. The marketing manager has to do a lot of exercise to determine the price. He should determine the price in such a way that the firm is able to sell its products successfully. Pricing also involves establishing policies regarding credit, discount, delivery and payment. Right price can be determined through pricing research and by adopting test marketing techniques.
3. Promotion.
Promotion deals with informing and persuading the customers regarding the firm's product. It involves decisions about advertising, giving free articles on purchase of the particular commodities, conducting contests, role of personal selling are important tools to promote the sale of precuts of a firm. The use of promotional activities like contests, free distribution of samples etc., is also significant. Thus, a mix of advertising, personal selling and sales promotion are used for the promotion of a firm and its products. The promotional tools are briefly described below:
(i) Advertising: Advertising is a tool which the marketing manager uses to communicate a message to consumers through newspapers, magazines, television, etc.
(ii) Personal Selling: Personal selling is another means of communicating to consumers, and consists of direct person- top- person interaction between salesman and customers.
(iii) Sales Promotion.
Sales promotion includes all the methods of communicating with the consumers
except advertising and personal selling. It includes free samples, premium on sale,
contests, displays, shows and exhibitions, etc.
4. Place or physical Distribution.
Place-mix includes activities that are necessary to transfer ownership of goods to customers and to make available goods at the right time and place at which the products should be displayed and made available to the customers. It is management's responsibility to select and manage trade channels through which the products will reach the customer at the right time and to develop a physical distribution system for handling and transporting the products through these channels. The important channels used for physical distribution of goods are wholesalers and retailers. In some cases the manufacturer even owns the retail outlets. For example, there are oil companies in India that own stations distributing their petroleum products. Many manufacturers like Eureka Forbes also sell directly to consumers by way of door-to-door sales persons. Whatever may be the channel selected, the marketing managers are also responsible for measuring channel performance and making changes when performance falls short of expected goals. In addition, he has to develop a system of handling and transporting the products through these channels. The important questions include: Will the product be transported to middlemen by rail or by truck? If by truck, should the company buy its own vehicles or engage a transporter to do the transporting? What is the best route over which the goods should be moved? These are some of the decisions which the marketing managers have to take in the field of physical distribution.
The Fifth P: Packaging
Apart from the 4Ps company, Packaging has assumed its importance as the 5th P of Marketing-mix strategy. Packaging is the art, science and technology of preparing goods for sale. In recent times, packaging has become 'an effective marketing tool. It can create self- appeal-product and promotion. It has become a useful marketing tool because of the growing importance of self-service, innovation in packaging industry (e.g. Palmolive gives its shaving cream in soft squeeze package which provides full recovery of the contents)
The expand marketing-mix
In service industry one needs more Ps than the five already discussed. These are as
follows:
1. People. People constitute an important dimension of marketing of services. Every
employee in the organization becomes a sales person of company's service. Therefore his attitude, style, sense of responsibility, etc. become more important. Customers are important to influence other customers. Their word-of mouth travels faster than company communication.
2. Physical Evidence. A customer needs the service but, it is also important how
the service is offered. Thus, cleanliness at school, college, hotels, clinics, restaurants, cinema halls, airports etc. becomes more important. The provision of adequate facilities becomes more important as in case of hotels, airports, etc..
3. Process.
It refers to the process by which a customer is served with the desired product. The process of delivery becomes important in a service organization. It includes the procedures, mechanisms and routines which remain within the organization. For example, bank delivers cash service by the following sequences that are interaction between the employees and the customer: enter bank (security guard checks), fill up cheque or withdrawal from (or get from counter), give cheque/withdrawal from to concerned employee who would check details and ask for any other formality. The employee opens-up ledger/checks in computer for the balance amount in that account. The concerned employee then issues a token to the customer and sends the cheque/withdrawal from the to the concerned officer ot be passed for payment. The
cheque is then cleared from the officer's desk by tallying the signature and entering into the register. The peon then takes the cheque and delivers it to the cashier who will makes the payment to the customer.
The process of cheque encashment might take 5-10 minutes in a normal day. This might result into some complaint or dissatisfaction within the customer. Effective marketing must communicate with the customer through right process so that customer convenience of utmost importance.
Thus, we see that marketing of services requires and expanded marketing-mix comprising the product, price, place, promotion and the people, physical evidence, and process. The marketer has to be more careful in selecting the right marketing- mix strategy in case of marketing of services-to satisfy the customer requirements its.
Determining the marketing-mix
This article describes both the historical Merrill Lynch and its ongoing operations as a subsidiary of the Bank of America. Merrill Lynch provides capital markets services, investment banking and advisory services, wealth management, asset management, insurance, banking and related financial services worldwide. Merrill Lynch is headquartered in New York City, and occupies the entire 34 stories of the Four World Financial Center building in Manhattan.
1. Product.
Product-mix involves planning, developing and producing the right types of products and services to be marketed by the firm. It deals with the product range, durability and other qualities and other features. In short, product planning and development involves decisions about: (i) quality of the product (ii) size of the product, (iii) design of the product (iv) volume of the production (v) packaging (vi) warranties and after- sales service,
2. Price:
It is one of the most difficult tasks of the marketing manager to fix the right price. The marketing manager has to do a lot of exercise to determine the price. He should determine the price in such a way that the firm is able to sell its products successfully. Pricing also involves establishing policies regarding credit, discount, delivery and payment. Right price can be determined through pricing research and by adopting test marketing techniques.
3. Promotion.
Promotion deals with informing and persuading the customers regarding the firm's product. It involves decisions about advertising, giving free articles on purchase of the particular commodities, conducting contests, role of personal selling are important tools to promote the sale of precuts of a firm. The use of promotional activities like contests, free distribution of samples etc., is also significant. Thus, a mix of advertising, personal selling and sales promotion are used for the promotion of a firm and its products. The promotional tools are briefly described below:
(i) Advertising: Advertising is a tool which the marketing manager uses to communicate a message to consumers through newspapers, magazines, television, etc.
(ii) Personal Selling: Personal selling is another means of communicating to consumers, and consists of direct person- top- person interaction between salesman and customers.
(iii) Sales Promotion.
Sales promotion includes all the methods of communicating with the consumers
except advertising and personal selling. It includes free samples, premium on sale,
contests, displays, shows and exhibitions, etc.
4. Place or physical Distribution.
Place-mix includes activities that are necessary to transfer ownership of goods to customers and to make available goods at the right time and place at which the products should be displayed and made available to the customers. It is management's responsibility to select and manage trade channels through which the products will reach the customer at the right time and to develop a physical distribution system for handling and transporting the products through these channels. The important channels used for physical distribution of goods are wholesalers and retailers. In some cases the manufacturer even owns the retail outlets. For example, there are oil companies in India that own stations distributing their petroleum products. Many manufacturers like Eureka Forbes also sell directly to consumers by way of door-to-door sales persons. Whatever may be the channel selected, the marketing managers are also responsible for measuring channel performance and making changes when performance falls short of expected goals. In addition, he has to develop a system of handling and transporting the products through these channels. The important questions include: Will the product be transported to middlemen by rail or by truck? If by truck, should the company buy its own vehicles or engage a transporter to do the transporting? What is the best route over which the goods should be moved? These are some of the decisions which the marketing managers have to take in the field of physical distribution.
The Fifth P: Packaging
Apart from the 4Ps company, Packaging has assumed its importance as the 5th P of Marketing-mix strategy. Packaging is the art, science and technology of preparing goods for sale. In recent times, packaging has become 'an effective marketing tool. It can create self- appeal-product and promotion. It has become a useful marketing tool because of the growing importance of self-service, innovation in packaging industry (e.g. Palmolive gives its shaving cream in soft squeeze package which provides full recovery of the contents)
The expand marketing-mix
In service industry one needs more Ps than the five already discussed. These are as
follows:
1. People. People constitute an important dimension of marketing of services. Every
employee in the organization becomes a sales person of company's service. Therefore his attitude, style, sense of responsibility, etc. become more important. Customers are important to influence other customers. Their word-of mouth travels faster than company communication.
2. Physical Evidence. A customer needs the service but, it is also important how
the service is offered. Thus, cleanliness at school, college, hotels, clinics, restaurants, cinema halls, airports etc. becomes more important. The provision of adequate facilities becomes more important as in case of hotels, airports, etc..
3. Process.
It refers to the process by which a customer is served with the desired product. The process of delivery becomes important in a service organization. It includes the procedures, mechanisms and routines which remain within the organization. For example, bank delivers cash service by the following sequences that are interaction between the employees and the customer: enter bank (security guard checks), fill up cheque or withdrawal from (or get from counter), give cheque/withdrawal from to concerned employee who would check details and ask for any other formality. The employee opens-up ledger/checks in computer for the balance amount in that account. The concerned employee then issues a token to the customer and sends the cheque/withdrawal from the to the concerned officer ot be passed for payment. The
cheque is then cleared from the officer's desk by tallying the signature and entering into the register. The peon then takes the cheque and delivers it to the cashier who will makes the payment to the customer.
The process of cheque encashment might take 5-10 minutes in a normal day. This might result into some complaint or dissatisfaction within the customer. Effective marketing must communicate with the customer through right process so that customer convenience of utmost importance.
Thus, we see that marketing of services requires and expanded marketing-mix comprising the product, price, place, promotion and the people, physical evidence, and process. The marketer has to be more careful in selecting the right marketing- mix strategy in case of marketing of services-to satisfy the customer requirements its.
Determining the marketing-mix
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