Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2014). Principles of Marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
This concept showcases the “full positioning of a brand” along with the benefits that come from the positioning (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014). A value proposition is the benefits the customer expects to see from a product or service. This answers the basic question customers ask before purchasing a product, which is why they should by that product and not a competitors. The value proposition is best recognized as a slogan. For example, McDonalds uses, “I’m lovin it”. The slogan represents the brands image and associates the customer with that product.
Value proposition can be broken down into five different categories. First there is more for more where companies provide high quality products for a higher market price. An example of this would be a Tiffany and CO engagement ring verse a Zales engagement ring. Next there is More for the same where companies provide high quality products at a lower price than more for more. For example, Lexus offers luxurious cars at a significantly lower price than Mercedes or BMW (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014). The same for less provides the same products at a much lower price due to the companies buying power. For example, Walmart offers rainbow bread just like Save mart but at a significantly lower price. Less for much less works to provide lower quality products for consumers who cannot afford, or do not care about higher quality products. An example would be purchasing a car with a manual transmission instead of an automatic transmission because the lower quality yields a lower price. Lastly, more for less is the ideal proposition, however, it is hard to offer. More always costs more so this only works for companies in the short run. When Home Depot opened they had the largest selection at the lowest price. However, as competition like Lowes came, they had to switch focus on customer service because they could not keep up with the more for less concept (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014).
Applied Learning
This concept has been applied in two of my group projects this semester. It was first applied in my practicum presentation (see my applied work page). Our product the Microsoft Surface used the more for less proposition. They offered a product just like the Ipad or Samsung tablet, but modified it with extra features the competition did not have. This was also applied in my marketing plan (see applied work page). This paper focuses on the creation of child exercise classes at In-Shape. This is a more for the same concept because the members pay the same amount, but are getting an additional service.
Sources
Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2014). Principles of Marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Journey through Marketing 