The marketing mix of Vodafone

There have been a lot of people who have contributed to my coursework whom I would like to thank in this section. First of all, I would like to thank my sister who had given me the idea to choose Vodafone as the subject of my coursework when I seemed clueless on what business to do my coursework on . Secondly I would like to thank the 25 people who took out their time in order to participant in my questionnaire. I also like to thank the staff in the Vodafone store in Bow Street, Lisburn who gave me some additional information on Vodafone.

Lastly, I would to thank my business studies teacher Mark Higgins who has also contributed to the success of this investigation. Introduction The reason I have chosen this title for my coursework is that the marketing mix was one of my best topic and the one I most enjoyed in my AS level Business Studies course. It is also because I have an interest in researching the 3 additional P’s. I have chosen Vodafone as my business for which I will do my project on.

This is due to the fact that doing research on a mobile phone company who not only started in the UK but have also ended up as the largest mobile phone retailer and one of the largest companies in Europe. It would also give me the best results and the most enjoyment in researching the company. Another factor to my choice is their location and ability to get information about them via a website and the Vodafone store in Lisburn, Co Antrim, which is the town where I live. This allows me to participate in field research. Vodafone is a multi-national company, which made the UK’s first ever mobile phone call on the 1st of January 1985.

This call was to mark the launch of the mobile industry and to transform the communications world. In their first 15 years they have become the largest company in Europe by market capitalisation and the largest telecommunications company of its kind globally. They also have a customer base of over 93 million and interests in network operators across 28 countries. 1 in every 100 people in the world own a Vodafone mobile phone, which is a tremendous feat for any mobile phone firm and surely a benchmark for others to aim for.

Vodafone also serve 12 million UK customers and deals with 50 million calls per day and 10 million text messages per day. They have roaming agreements with more foreign network operators than any other UK network, so the customer is more likely to be able to roam onto Vodafone when they come to the UK. They have also been recently reported as having the highest level of customer satisfaction, of all UK networks as well as extensive network coverage in the UK whereby they cover 99% of the UK population.

Their vision is based on continuing to understand the multiple benefits of mobile communications and aims to continue to deliver these through focused customer services and commitments to remaining at the front of service developments. Vodafone also continue to massively invest at a rate of i?? 10 million per week into building a network which allows the customer to make more calls from more places and remain assured that the quality and reliability of their service is as high as ever.

Vodafone also take steps in committing to environmental policies that are designed to minimise the impact of the network in both rural and urban areas, i. e. , with network base towers being erected. They are also concerned with other environmental issues such as using technology that is not known to be harmful to people or the environment, minimising the use of harmful CFCs and endeavouring only to purchase environmentally friendly products. Vodafone has a high-profile sponsorship program, supporting large and small organisations throughout the world.

This illustrious list includes sponsorship of Manchester United, Benetton Formula 1 Racing Team, Ferrari Formula 1 Racing Team, English Test Cricket and the Vodafone Derby horserace. I will look at the marketing mix of Vodafone due to having an interest in Vodafone’s marketing affairs, especially at its high cost promotional end. I will investigate the marketing mix of Vodafone and evaluate its effect on customers, who are ultimately the most important player to the success of Vodafone. The marketing mix consists of the 7 P’s.

Vodafone are more so concerned with the 3 additional P’s of marketing and well as the standard 4 P’s as they are marketing a service. Product: Vodafone must make sure that their product is meeting the needs of its customers. The importance of the product may be shown in a product life cycle. This means looking at a number of features of the product. This includes quality assurance, branding, the appearance of the product and a question mark over the financial viability of the product. Price: The pricing policy that the business chooses will reflect the market it is aiming at.

Prices may be set to attract customers or they may be set to profit maximise. They may even be prepared to make short-term losses in order to capture a large market share. Vodafone may use such pricing policies as cost based pricing (prices are based upon costs), market orientated pricing (prices are based upon the analysis of the market) and competition based pricing (prices are largely based on what competitors are charging for their good). Promotion: Vodafone would use promotional techniques in order to give them a competitive edge.

This could be done through above the line promotion (promotion through an independent media), which would include television advertisements, newspaper advertisements, radio and posters advertisements, to below the line promotion (promotion where the firm have a degree of control over the methods they use), e. g. , personal selling, direct mailing, trade fairs and product endorsements. Place: This refers to where the good is sold and what distribution methods are used in order to get the good to the consumer.

This can be done from Vodafone straight to the consumer (this may be done on the Internet, increasing Vodafone’s revenue as a result), through Vodafone stores or from Vodafone to a retailer, such as The Link, to the consumer. People: This helps with customer satisfaction and also refers to all people, whether it be people employed by the firm whose job it is to sell the good to consumers or whether it be people who are potential customers to Vodafone, whose needs are focused on by Vodafone.

Process: This explains the way in which the good is sold. Such examples would be purchasing goods in person over the counter by credit card, cash, cheques or direct debit, via the telephone or over the Internet. Physical Environment: Even though the good is intangible, the customer can still feel that the physical environment of the store. This can be through the outlay of the store and memorabilia such as umbrellas and Manchester United football shirts in the case of Vodafone.